Taiwan Ally Tuvalu Names New Prime Minister
The Facts
Tuvalu's recently elected 16-member parliament appointed former attorney general and fisheries official Feleti Teo as prime minister on Monday, one month after general elections in which outgoing Prime Minister Kausea Natano lost his seat.
As the only candidate running for office, Teo was elected unopposed. According to local media Tuvalu TV, ministers are set to be confirmed at the oath taking ceremony later this week.
The Spin
Pro-China narrative
Tuvalu will accept the One-China principle sooner or later, as the international community has gradually shown that distancing from Taiwan secessionist authorities is an inevitable trend of our times. As climate change and rising seas put Pacific Islands under threat, the dollar diplomacy gets more and more useless compared to cooperating with Beijing.
Anti-China narrative
While it's uncertain if Tuvalu will be able to keep resisting Chinese pressure over its relationship with Taiwan in the long term, its small population and high wealth, as well as its Christianity-related opposition to the Chinese Communist Party have made it harder for China-aligned leaders in the archipelago — Taiwan's longest standing Pacific ally — to convince their countrymen to fall into the Chinese trap.
