Tuvalu Prime Minister Feleti Teo has spoken for the first time since taking office with Australian counterpart Anthony Albanese, a Tuvalu official says, after the Pacific Island leader called for changes to a landmark bilateral treaty.
Teo, announced as prime minister after a January election, has said he wants changes to some security provisions in the security and climate migration treaty signed in November.
The two leaders spoke by telephone on Friday, the Tuvalu official said, without giving details of the conversation.
Albanese’s office did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
The Falepili Union treaty allows 280 people a year to migrate from Tuvalu, an island nation of 11,000 people that is threatened by rising sea levels caused by climate change.
Under the treaty Australia provides Tuvalu with a defence guarantee and can vet a wide range of its security arrangements with other countries, from port, energy, cyber and telecommunications to policing.
“That arrangement, which requires Australia and Tuvalu to mutually agree before Tuvalu embarks on discussing other security arrangements, is perceived generally as an encroachment on Tuvalu’s sovereignty,” Teo told Sky News.
Tuvalu is one of just 12 nations to maintain an official diplomatic relationship with Taiwan, as China has made increasing inroads into the Pacific Islands region, building ports and seeking a policing role.
Taiwan’s Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs James Tien visited Tuvalu last week to reaffirm ties.
