These are elections which usually arouse very limited interest on the international scene, but the vote which took place on Friday in Tuvalu, a Pacific archipelago of around 11,000 inhabitants, is being followed very closely by Taiwan, China, the United States and Australia. Because this microstate is one of the last twelve to maintain official diplomatic relations with Taiwan and the outgoing Prime Minister, very favorable to Taipei, lost his seat.
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Kausea Natano, who has led the country since September 2019, failed to be re-elected as a deputy in his constituency on the main island, Funafuti, and will therefore have to leave his post.
With the defeat of the outgoing Prime Minister, Kausea Natano, Taiwan may have just lost one of its last allies on the international scene, underlines our regional co-respondent, Grégory Plesse. If the final result of the elections is not yet known and the new government has not yet been formed, other elected officials, notably the former Minister of Finance, Seve Paeniu, the only candidate in his constituency, have clearly indicated that he wanted to review the diplomatic relations of the archipelago. He added that he would not hesitate to turn his back on Taiwan in favor of China, if an alliance with Beijing better meets the needs of Tuvalu, whose territory, threatened by rising waters, will be totally submerged by here the end of the century.
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Australia, which signed in last November a climate asylum agreement with Tuvaluis following this election closely, as is the United States, which recently committed to connecting the archipelago with an underwater cable to improve telecommunications.
A change of allegiance would be a blow for Taiwan, which, following elections that brought to power a pro-independence candidate, lost the support of Nauru, another Pacific island nation, which allowed itself to be seduced by Chinese promises of aid for its development.
Because there are no political parties in Tuvalu, and some islands are more than 24 hours by boat from the capital, Funafuti, we will have to wait until next week to know the composition of the next government, and its foreign policy intentions.
Tuvalu is among the last dozen countries to recognize Taiwan since Nauru, another Pacific microstate, changed alliance in favor of China in mid-January.
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