Taiwan said it received assurances from Tuvalu's new prime minister Monday that ties were "everlasting", scotching rumours that the Pacific island nation was poised to flip alliances to Beijing.

Former attorney general Feleti Teo was named premier in a ceremony on Monday, a month after an election that put the Pacific Island nation's recognition of Taiwan in question.

Tuvalu, with a population of just 11,000 is one of just 12 states that still have formal diplomatic relations with Taipei rather than Beijing.

During the election campaign, member of parliament and then-finance minister Seve Paeniu floated the idea that Tuvalu's new government should review its Taiwan ties.

That set off frenzied speculation about a looming shift in policy, causing the election to be closely watched from the United States to China.

Andrew Lin, Taiwan's ambassador to Tuvalu, tried to end that speculation.

Lin told AFP that he had spoken to Teo and government MPs on Monday and received assurances "that the relationship between Taiwan and Tuvalu is firm, rock solid, durable and everlasting."

"I was invited to attend a lunch with all the MPs and the newly elected PM. I had conversations with all of them and had assurances from all of them," he said.

Teo, a former attorney general, was most recently the head of the Western and Central Pacific Fisheries Commission.

He is the first Tuvaluan prime minister to be nominated unopposed and will be inaugurated later this week, according to lawmaker Simon Kofe.

- 'Very good friends' -

China has dramatically ramped up its efforts to gain influence across the Pacific Islands in recent years, lavishing small nation states with loans, investment, security aid and other enticements.

Beijing has already poached some of Taiwan's Pacific allies, convincing Solomon Islands and Kiribati to switch recognition in 2019.

Neighbouring Nauru severed diplomatic ties with Taiwan in January this year.

Against that backdrop, Tuvalu's election garnered more attention than usual, with the process of choosing a new leader more drawn out than expected.

After the election, the islands' 16 lawmakers were due to gather in Funafuti within days to agree on a new government and a new leader.

But high winds and heavy seas left several MPs stranded on outlying islands and unable to reach the capital for almost a month.

International relations are expected to be high on the list of issues for Teo's new government, along with the problems of climate change and rising sea levels.

Two of Tuvalu's nine coral islands have already largely disappeared under the waves, and climate scientists fear the entire archipelago will be uninhabitable within the next 80 years.

Taiwan ambassador Lin said he and Teo had an excellent relationship.

"I spoke to him at the ceremony, I speak to him all the time. Tuvalu is very small, we are very good friends and close to each other."

Feleti Teo is named Tuvalu's new prime minister after elections that ousted Taiwan supporter

Tuvalu’s former Attorney General Feleti Teo was named prime minister of the tiny South Pacific nation Monday after elections a month ago ousted the last government leader.

Teo was the only candidate nominated by his 15 lawmaker colleagues and Governor General Tofiga Vaevalu Falani declared him elected without a vote, government secretary Tufoua Panapa said in a statement.

The swearing-in ceremony for Teo and his Cabinet will be held later this week.

It was not immediately clear how the new government will affect China’s influence in the country of around 11,500 people halfway between Australia and Hawaii.

The previous prime minister, Kausea Natano, and three of his eight ministers were not reelected in the Jan. 26 election.

Natano had wanted Tuvalu to remain one of only 12 countries that have official diplomatic ties with Taiwan, the self-governed democracy that China claims as its own territory.

Natano’s former Finance Minister Seve Paeniu, who was considered a leadership contender, had argued for Tuvalu’s relationships with both Beijing and Taiwan to be reviewed.

A proposed security treaty between Tuvalu and Australia could be rewritten or scrapped under the new government. The treaty, announced in November last year, commits Australia to help Tuvalu in response to major natural disasters, pandemics and military aggression.

Australia offered Tuvaluans a lifeline to help residents escape the rising seas and increased storms brought by climate change. Tuvalu’s low-lying atolls make it particularly vulnerable to global warming. Australia would initially allow up to 280 Tuvaluans to come to Australia each year.

The treaty, which has yet to be ratified, also would give Australia veto power over any security or defense-related agreement Tuvalu wants to make with any other country, including China.

Tuvalu lawmaker Enele Sopoaga, who was prime minister until the previous election in 2019, opposes the treaty.

Before Teo was announced prime minister, Meg Keen, director of the Pacific Island Program at the Lowy Institute, a Sydney-based think tank, said the new government would review the treaty and “put their own stamp on it.”

“My view is refinements can be negotiated and the deal has a good chance of proceeding,” Keen said.

George Carter, an Australian National University expert on international politics, said Teo had received support from a majority 10 of the 16 lawmakers within two weeks of the election.

Carter said Teo’s supporters want Tuvalu to continue relations with Taiwan and that a change of allegiances to Beijing is unlikely in the near future.

“I think he will try to not rock the boat from the current considerations in terms of support for Taiwan for now. But things could change,” he said.

Carter said Teo had told supporters that Sopoaga, the former prime minister, and Paeniu, the former finance minister, would be excluded from his Cabinet.