Palauan President Tommy Remengesau has asked the US and Japan to help his nation’s tourism industry after Beijing reportedly barred Chinese citizens from visiting the tiny Pacific island due to its diplomatic links with Taiwan.
Palau had not received official confirmation of a ban, but there had been a fall in visitors from China, one of its largest tourism markets, with one airline forced to suspend operations due to the plunge in demand, Remengesau said.
Remengesau said Taiwan had already promised to help by increasing flights to Palau and that he had also asked Washington and Tokyo for assistance.
“I approached Japan, I said: ‘Please build one or two high-end hotel-resorts in Palau,’” he told reporters on Wednesday. “I have approached Taiwan, I have approached the United States... Just one investment can go a long way to help maintain the economic progress of a small nation such as Palau.”
Remengesau said he also planned to ask South Korea and the EU to encourage tourists to visit Palau.
He ruled out revoking Palau’s diplomatic recognition of Taiwan in order to gain favor with Beijing, saying “we are good friends ... through thick and thin.”
Chinese tourists accounted for 47 percent of international visitors to Palau in 2016, with Taiwanese making up 10 percent.
However, Palau Pacific Airways earlier this month said that it had been forced to suspend flights because of a drop in Chinese tourists.
A letter from the airline’s Taiwanese owner, Sea Passion Group, to Palau’s national congress accused Beijing of branding the Pacific island “an illegal tour destination,” denting its business.
China’s growing influence in the Pacific has caused concern in Australia and New Zealand, which have long regarded Oceania as their own backyard.
After years of inaction, Canberra and Wellington have significantly boosted aid spending in the region this year in a bid to win back hearts and minds among the island nations.
China’s role in the region is set to be high on the agenda at the 18-nation Pacific Islands Forum annual meeting in Nauru in September.
An increase in Taiwanese boats using China-made automatic identification systems (AIS) could confuse coast guards patrolling waters off Taiwan’s southwest coast and become a loophole in the national security system, sources familiar with the matter said yesterday. Taiwan ADIZ, a Facebook page created by enthusiasts who monitor Chinese military activities in airspace and waters off Taiwan’s southwest coast, on Saturday identified what seemed to be a Chinese cargo container ship near Penghu County. The Coast Guard Administration went to the location after receiving the tip and found that it was a Taiwanese yacht, which had a Chinese AIS installed. Similar instances had also
GOOD DIPLOMACY: The KMT has maintained close contact with representative offices in Taiwan and had extended an invitation to Russia as well, the KMT said The Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) would “appropriately handle” the fallout from an invitation it had extended to Russia’s representative to Taipei to attend its international banquet last month, KMT Chairman Eric Chu (朱立倫) said yesterday. US and EU representatives in Taiwan boycotted the event, and only later agreed to attend after the KMT rescinded its invitation to the Russian representative. The KMT has maintained long-term close contact with all representative offices and embassies in Taiwan, and had extended the invitation as a practice of good diplomacy, Chu said. “Some EU countries have expressed their opinions of Russia, and the KMT respects that,” he
AMENDMENT: Contact with certain individuals in China, Hong Kong and Macau must be reported, and failure to comply could result in a prison sentence, the proposal stated The Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) and the Taiwan People’s Party (TPP) yesterday voted against a proposed bill by Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) lawmakers that would require elected officials to seek approval before visiting China. DPP Legislator Puma Shen’s (沈伯洋) proposed amendments to the Act Governing Relations Between the People of the Taiwan Area and the Mainland Area (臺灣地區與大陸地區人民關係條例), stipulate that contact with certain individuals in China, Hong Kong and Macau should be reported, while failure to comply would be punishable by prison sentences of up to three years, alongside a fine of NT$10 million (US$309,041). Fifty-six voted with the TPP in opposition
VIGILANCE: The military is paying close attention to actions that might damage peace and stability in the region, the deputy minister of national defense said The People’s Republic of China (PRC) might consider initiating a hack on Taiwanese networks on May 20, the day of the inauguration ceremony of president-elect William Lai (賴清德), sources familiar with cross-strait issues said. While US Secretary of State Anthony Blinken’s statement of the US expectation “that all sides will conduct themselves with restraint and prudence in the period ahead” would prevent military actions by China, Beijing could still try to sabotage Taiwan’s inauguration ceremony, the source said. China might gain access to the video screens outside of the Presidential Office Building and display embarrassing messages from Beijing, such as congratulating Lai