Australia reached a new security deal with Tuvalu on Thursday after critics complained that a previous pact created Australian veto power over any further deals the small South Pacific island nation pursued with a third country, such as China. .
Tuvalu Prime Minister Feleti Teo and Australian Foreign Minister Penny Wong have pledged to sign a new memorandum of understanding addressing the sovereignty concerns of Teo's government, which was elected in January.
“It's quite significant, the security guarantee that the treaty provides is something quite unique,” Teo said at a joint news conference in his small nation with a population of around 11,500 people.
NEW TUVALU LEADERSHIP COMMITS TO CONTINUE DIPLOMATIC RELATIONS WITH TAIWAN INSTEAD OF BEIJING
Teo's predecessor, Kausea Natano, signed a historic treaty in November last year that offered Tuvaluans a lifeline to escape rising sea levels and increasing storms that threaten their country, a cluster of low- to mid-level atolls. road between Australia and Hawaii.
Australia would initially resettle up to 280 Tuvaluans a year under the treaty. The agreement also committed Australia to assist Tuvalu in response to major natural disasters, pandemics and military aggression.
The treaty also gave Australia veto power over any security or defense-related agreements Tuvalu wants to make with any other country, including China.
Tuvalu's newly elected Prime Minister Feleti Teo (right) takes office during a ceremony in Funafuti, Tuvalu, on February 28, 2024. Australia reached a new security agreement with Tuvalu on May 9, 2024 , after critics complained that a previous pact gave Australia too much power. (Government of Tuvalu via AP, File)
Meg Keen, director of the Pacific Islands Program at the Lowy Institute, a Sydney-based international policy think tank, said the new agreement makes no substantial changes to the treaty announced last year.
Teo “is assured that the provisions relating to the veto of third-party agreements are not intended to infringe on Tuvalu's sovereignty, but rather to ensure effective response capability/coordination and interoperability in times of crisis response,” Keen said in an email. .
“There are provisions to withdraw if either party believes that this agreement is not being respected,” Keen added.
Australia on Thursday announced an investment of more than $72 million in priority Tuvalu projects, including $33 million for the creation of Tuvalu's first undersea telecommunications cable.
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The Tuvalu deal is part of coordinated efforts by the United States and its allies to curb China's growing influence in the South Pacific, particularly in the security sphere.
Campaign issues in the January election included whether Tuvalu should switch its diplomatic allegiance from Taiwan to Beijing.
Teo told the AP in March, in his first international media interview since taking power, that his government would maintain diplomatic relations with autonomous Taiwan, which China claims as its own territory.
