Tuvalu’s New Prime Minister Seen as Favoring Taiwan Ties
Feleti Teo has been named the new prime minister of Tuvalu, receiving unanimous support from the Pacific island nation's 16 lawmakers. Taiwan's foreign ministry says Teo is a friend to Taiwan and that relations with Tuvalu are stable.
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00:00 One of Taiwan's few remaining diplomatic allies, Tuvalu has elected a new prime minister.
00:06 The election has been closely watched by Taipei as well as China and the United States as
00:11 the two superpowers wrestle for influence in the Pacific.
00:15 Louise Wat is following developments for us and joins us now from Taipei.
00:18 Louise, is this a win for Taiwan?
00:21 Yes, I think it is a win for Taiwan.
00:25 Tuvalu's new prime minister is Valete Deo.
00:29 He's a lawyer, a former attorney general, but more importantly for Taiwan, he's seen
00:36 as favoring continuing diplomatic relations with Taipei rather than exploring switching
00:42 allegiance to Beijing.
00:45 Now this is important because Tuvalu, while it's a small nation, it has a population of
00:50 just 11,000, it doesn't have much land and that's at risk of rising sea levels, but it
00:57 is one of Taiwan's 12 remaining diplomatic allies.
01:01 And Tuvalu's neighbor, Nauru, just last month ditched Taipei in favor of Beijing, which
01:07 promised to spend more money in development help for the nation.
01:12 So Taiwan's foreign ministry seems happy with the new pick.
01:17 It says that Deo is a good friend to Taiwan, who's been here several times.
01:23 The foreign ministry has sent its congratulations along with those of President Tsai to Deo,
01:29 and it says that it will send a delegation from Taiwan in the near future to show its
01:35 support for the new government.
01:36 [BLANK_AUDIO]