The pro-Taiwan prime minister of the Pacific island nation of Tuvalu lost his seat in an election closely watched by China and the United States, according to results announced on Saturday.
The micro-nation’s incumbent prime minister, Kausea Natano, had pledged support for Taiwan, Tuvalu’s diplomatic ally since 1979.
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Tuvalu, with a population of 11,200 spread over 9 islands, is one of Taipei’s three remaining allies in the Pacific after another Oceania micro-island nation, Nauru, this month severed ties with Taiwan and began supporting Beijing. China is pledging more development support and aid to micro-nations in Oceania.
In South Asia, the Maldives has also begun to shift its diplomatic allegiance from India, its ally of decades, to China, which also offers it military aid and support.
Results in the Tuvalu city of Funafuti showed that Natano failed to retain his seat, an election official told Tuvalu TV.
Finance Minister Seve Paeniu, who called for Tuvalu to review its diplomatic relations with Taiwan after Friday’s election, retained his seat in the Nukulaelae island election in which he ran unopposed. He will form a coalition of elected lawmakers and run for prime minister.
Paeniu says the new government should discuss the issue of diplomatic recognition of Taiwan or China.
Speaking on Saturday after results favoring his return secured him a seat in the new parliament, Paeniu said:
Our last government under Prime Minister Natano had extensive internal discussions to determine our policy stance on this issue as our term in government began, so undoubtedly the new government will need to study the issue and determine its policy stance accordingly.
In Oceania, where the threat from the high seas is increasing, there is no political party in parliament and two MPs are elected from each of the 8 constituencies.
Paeniu is followed in this contest by Enele Sopoaga, another candidate for leader, who has called for support for Taiwan but instead wants to cancel the security agreement with Australia.
Tuvalu Electoral Commissioner Tufoua Panapa said lawmakers will vote to elect the prime minister next week at a meeting to be held at a time to be announced by the governor-general.
“We will have a clearer picture next week as we need to bring elected MPs from remote islands to the island that is the capital,” Panapa said. The boat ride can take up to 27 hours.
As tensions between China and Taiwan escalate, Beijing is rallying regional support from its allies in South and Southeast Asia. China has previously approached Tuvalu, offering to build artificial islands in exchange for changing its relations in 2019.
A broader struggle for influence in the Pacific between China and the US has begun, with Washington recently committing to the first submarine cable to provide global telecommunications to Tuvalu.
In previous weeks, Taiwan’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs said in a statement that a number of officials and politicians from Tuvalu congratulated Taiwan on the presidential election results and “reiterated their position that the friendship between the two countries should continue to be firmly defended.”
