MELBOURNE, Australia: Tuvalu's new head of government said on Friday that the small Pacific nation shared democratic values with Taiwan and reaffirmed that his government would maintain diplomatic ties with the East Asian island, ruling out a shift to China.
"Our ties with Taiwan are purely based on democratic principles and they have been very loyal to us," Prime Minister Feleti Teo told the Associated Press (AP) via Zoom, his first interview with international media since taking office.
Teo, a 61-year-old first-time lawmaker, and his eight Cabinet ministers were sworn into office on Wednesday, a month after general elections in the strategically significant nation of 11,500 people, halfway between Australia and Hawaii.
Election campaign issues included whether Tuvalu should switch its diplomatic allegiance from Taipei to Beijing. An elected candidate proposed scrapping a yet-unratified treaty that would give Australia veto power over any security-related agreement Tuvalu wants to make with any other country, including China.
The new government announced it would maintain diplomatic ties with Taiwan, which China has claimed as its own territory since a 1949 split amid civil war.
"We don't see any reason ... we need to invest in time to discuss and engage in the two-China discussion," Teo said, referring to the counter-policy from the "One China" principle, which asserts Beijing's view that it has sovereignty over the mainland, Hong Kong, Macao and Taiwan.
Seve Paeniu, who was finance minister in the previous government and was considered a leadership contender in the election, had argued for Tuvalu's relationships with both Taiwan and Beijing to be reviewed. Paeniu was excluded from Teo's Cabinet.
Tuvalu's parliament has 16 lawmakers and no political parties, so a prime minister must garner the support of at least eight independent lawmakers to command a majority.
After Teo was chosen by 10 of his fellow lawmakers to be premier on Monday, China's Foreign Ministry urged Taipei's diplomatic allies to "stand on the right side of history and make the right decision that truly serves their long-term interest" by switching allegiances to Beijing.
When the tiny atoll country of Nauru switched alliances to China in January, Tuvalu became one of only three Pacific island nations aligned with Taiwan.
Teo, a former long-term public servant and regional bureaucrat, said the question of changing allegiances was "definitely not" an issue for his people.
He said he hoped to renegotiate development assistance agreements with Taiwan and that impacts of climate change and rising sea levels remain top priorities for his nation.
The treaty with Australia, announced by Teo's predecessor Kausea Natano and Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese in November, offered Tuvaluans an option of resettlement in Australia to escape rising oceans and worsening storms.
Australia would initially allow up to 280 Tuvaluans to immigrate each year. The treaty would also commit Canberra to helping Tuvalu in response to major natural disasters, pandemics and military aggression.
But Teo wants Australia to drop a clause that both countries must "mutually agree" on any third-country security agreement that Tuvalu may seek.
Teo said he had been involved in drafting the treaty as a legal consultant for Tuvalu and the original intention had been only for Canberra to be informed of such third-party agreements. Australian approval had not been expected.
Teo would not speculate on whether Australia wants veto power to avoid a repeat of the security pact signed between China and the Solomon Islands in 2022 that raised the prospect of a Chinese naval foothold being established in the South Pacific.
Teo said while his government is "certainly behind the broad principle and objectives of the treaty," it still has ways to go. The treaty would become acceptable if Australia dropped the mutual agreement provision, he added.
"We need to revisit that provision," he said. "The general perspective here in Tuvalu is that it might encroach on Tuvalu's sovereignty."