President Surangirl Whips of Palau, a Pacific island country that established diplomatic relations with Taiwan, criticized China. China is threatening to suspend its citizens’ tourism to Palau, demanding diplomatic relations with China after severing ties with Taiwan.Palau is one of Taiwan’s 13 diplomatic powers, along with the Marshall Islands, Belize, Eswatini, Haiti, Nauru, Paraguay, Guatemala, Saint Kittsnevis, Saint Lucia, Saint Vincent Grenadine, Tuvalu and the Vatican. According to Taiwan’s Free Times and India’s Sunday Guardian, President Whips said in a recent media interview that Chinese tourists’ visits to Palau would be suspended if China did not change its diplomatic relations from Taiwan to China. China’s foreign policy of using economic cooperation as a means of carrying out its political interests is a well-known fact. Palau, an island country with an area of 459 square kilometers east of the Philippines and north of Papua New Guinea, is a small country with a population of only 18,000 as of 2020.
According to the Palau government, as of 2008, there were 634 Chinese tourists, less than 1% of the total, but in 2015, it increased to more than 91,000 people, 54% of the total.Based on this, China has been requesting diplomatic relations since 2017, and when it did not comply, Chinese tourists’ visits to Palau decreased significantly, according to President Whips.In addition, the Chinese, who bought a large number of local real estate, stopped developing real estate, leading to Palau’s economic downturn.
On top of that, Palau is currently experiencing extreme economic difficulties due to a sharp drop in tourists due to the COVID-19 pandemic (pandemic) since 2020.”(We) currently face three challenges,” President Whips said. “We need to establish a flexible economic system in Palau, deal with climate change properly, and fight China’s influence.””China is still Palau’s largest direct investment country,” he said. “China has not opened a direct flight to Palau.” In other words, China still controls Chinese tourism in Palau.There are two flights a week between Taiwan and Palau, he said. “We are also trying to open direct flights with Japan and Korea.”President Whips said Palau’s airport runway is short, adding that he has asked the U.S., Australia, Taiwan, Japan and South Korea for help to expand from 2,100m to 3,000m.As conflicts and confrontations between the U.S. and China intensify, the strategic importance of Pacific countries is growing. In particular, China is on high alert after Papua New Guinea signed a defense cooperation agreement with the United States last month and allowed U.S. troops to freely access major military bases in Papua New Guinea. Under the deal, U.S. troops and ships will be able to use Papua New Guinea’s six major ports and airports freely to pre-arrange equipment and supplies.Palau has also started cooperation with the United States with the aim of blocking China’s expansion of influence.In an interview with Reuters on the 14th while visiting Japan, President Whips said he had asked the United States to strengthen patrols in waters near Palau. The move came after Chinese ships violated Palau’s Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ) several times.
TED PARK
US ASIA JOURNAL
