Diplomats, technical mission staff to leave Nauru soon after ties cut

Taipei, Jan. 16 (CNA) Fifteen Taiwanese diplomats, technical mission staffers and family members will soon be leaving Nauru after it cut official diplomatic ties with Taipei in favor of Beijing on Monday, a Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MOFA) spokesman said Tuesday.

The 15 Taiwanese include three conscripts doing their alternative military service in the diplomatic corps, two college interns, and four official technical mission members.

The technical mission and alternative service conscripts will be reassigned to other countries, while the two interns are set to return to Taiwan after concluding their internship, according to MOFA spokesman Jeff Liu (劉永健).

Liu made the comments when asked by reporters during a news briefing when the Republic of China (Taiwan's official name) embassy in Nauru will be officially closed.

According to Liu, it is customary for countries to take around three months to recall their respective personnel following the severance of diplomatic relations.

So far, Taiwan's ongoing talks with Nauru over the closure of the two countries' respective embassies are going smoothly, as the Nauru side did not make "unreasonable demands," Liu said.

Also, Taiwan's government does not own any real estate in the Pacific island nation, as its embassy and dormitories were all rented.

MOFA will be selling the embassy's vehicles and other assets or transport them to nearby embassies soon, he said.

Meanwhile, there are no Taiwanese expatriates or businesspersons in Nauru, according to Liu.

Questions on whether Nauru has set too tight a deadline for the departure of embassy and technical mission staff or whether Taiwan needed to protect its property were raised based on the challenges faced after Nicaragua cut ties with the ROC in December 2021.

Nicaragua's government gave Taiwan's embassy and technical mission an extremely tight two-week deadline of Dec. 23 to leave the country after ties were severed on Dec. 10.

Taiwan protested that the request did not conform to global practices.

Nicaragua also forcibly confiscated the country's former embassy there.

The severing of ties between Taiwan and Nauru came two days after Vice President Lai Ching-te (賴清德) of the ruling Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) was elected president, and left the ROC with only 12 diplomatic allies.

At a press briefing Monday on the rupture in ties with Nauru, Taiwan's Deputy Foreign Minister Tien Chung-kwang (田中光) blasted Beijing over the timing of the switch and called it a "despicable act by China" and "an assault on democracy and a challenge to international norms."

As the world's democracies were congratulating Taiwan over its latest democratic elections, Beijing chose this way to suppress Taiwan, Tien said.

It was also the 10th diplomatic ally Taipei has lost to Beijing since President Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) took office in May 2016 due to deteriorating cross-Taiwan Strait relations.