Taiwan President Lai Ching-te has pledged to help its Pacific partner the Marshall Islands face a growing number of health and climate issues. Lai is using his first overseas trip as president to shore up ties with Taiwan's three remaining diplomatic allies in the Pacific, having lost three others to China in the last few years.
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00:00This is the biggest hospital in the Marshall Islands.
00:04Access to health care isn't easy on these atolls in the far Pacific.
00:08But with help from Taiwan, this new high-tech centre aims to tackle the country's leading
00:12health issue, diabetes, connecting patients here remotely with Taiwanese doctors thousands
00:18of kilometres away.
00:19And Taiwan's president, Lai Ching-de, has come to inaugurate this personally, part of
00:24his efforts to boost Taiwan's presence in this region.
00:27One, two, three, cut.
00:42Less than 50,000 people live across these 20 atolls, and despite the distance, the Marshall
00:48Islands is an important ally for Taiwan, one of only a dozen countries to officially recognise
00:53the Taipei government.
00:58Hoping to keep that number from dwindling further, President Lai is on a week-long charm
01:03offensive across the Pacific, a sensitive trip given China's claims of sovereignty over
01:08Taiwan.
01:09Any country that engages with the self-ruled island nation risks Beijing's disapproval,
01:14especially if, like the Marshalls, it hosts Taiwan's leader.
01:19The Marshall Islands has one of the smallest parliaments in the world, with just 30 lawmakers
01:22sitting in this chamber, but they're offering an enthusiastic welcome to Taiwan's President
01:27Lai Ching-de.
01:29Official relations between the two countries are now in their 26th year, and the two allies
01:33are looking to enhance cooperation in areas like health care, climate change resilience
01:38and maritime security.
01:40Lai pledged to help the Marshall Islands get more aircraft to patrol its waters, and will
01:44help construct a new parliament building.
01:46Though Taiwan has unofficial friends like the US to provide it with weapons to defend
01:50itself from outside threats, it's official allies like the Marshall Islands that help
01:55represent Taiwan on the world stage.
01:57The Pacific has been an area of contention between the People's Republic of China, the
02:02United States, Australia and so on, and Taiwan.
02:05Given that it has its deeply embedded interests in working with the US and Australia in the
02:12Pacific, it probably wants to shore up those relationships.
02:15In addition, what these countries that officially recognize Taiwan do for Taiwan at the United
02:21Nations is to raise up the issue of Taiwan in Taiwan's terms at the UN so that it's part
02:29of the official record.
02:31In the last five years, China has persuaded three of Taiwan's allies in the Pacific to
02:34switch diplomatic ties to Beijing.
02:37But for now at least, many here say they have more in common with democracies like Taiwan
02:41than autocratic China.
02:43Our state visit also signifies a bilateral relationship that is mature, one that has
02:50withstood the test of time, and one that I'm confident will continue to grow and become
02:58stronger in the years to come.
03:00And that's the message from these allied leaders, that no matter the distance between their
03:04countries, they're stronger together.
03:06Through existential threats like an outside force, health crises like diabetes, or climate
03:12change, and rising sea levels lapping at their nation's fragile shores.
03:17John Su and Rick Lowatt in Majuro, the Marshall Islands, for Taiwan Plus.