The leader of one of Taiwan’s last diplomatic allies in the Pacific said his nation is under increasing pressure from China to end its support for Taipei.
Palauan President Surangel Whipps Jr also said China violated the exclusive economic zone of his nation, an archipelago located north of Australia.
Palau is scheduled to hold a national election on Tuesday next week, the same day as the US presidential election.
Photo: David Dee Delgado, Reuters
Pacific nations are determined to maintain their sovereignty and territorial integrity, Whipps said, but warned that the struggle for geopolitical influence is intensifying and would test them.
Washington and Beijing have been vying for sway in a region that is the site of key shipping lanes and communication cables, together with fisheries and seabed minerals.
China “has been pushing hard,” Whipps said in response to a question about whether the result of Palau’s presidential and parliamentary elections would determine its future relationship with Taiwan.
“It’s very clear that they have an agenda, and the agenda is Taiwan,” he said. “They try to convince everybody that what Palau is doing, and everybody else, is illegal” in terms of recognizing the Taipei authorities.
China has deployed its rising economic might to steadily whittle away the number of nations that diplomatically recognize Taipei, particularly among developing Pacific nations where investment and infrastructure are urgently required.
Only 12 countries globally maintain diplomatic relations with Taiwan after the Pacific state of Nauru announced earlier this year that it would be switching recognition to Beijing.
That is one of the reasons why foreign ministries and analysts are closely watching elections in tiny nations such as Palau, which has a population of about 20,000 people.
The country also sits strategically between Hawaii and the US’ diplomatic partner, the Philippines.
Whipps has been broadly supportive of US President Joe Biden’s efforts to buttress diplomatic ties with the Pacific, even using the outgoing president’s “Build Back Better” slogan in his own re-election campaign.
The Palauan leader has been keen to tighten security ties with Washington as well, even weighing the deployment of US missile batteries to his nation.
While the president has frequently been critical of China’s actions in the region, he did not provide specific instances of Beijing putting pressure on his administration to cut diplomatic ties with Taiwan.
The Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs did not reply to a written request for a response to the president’s comments.
Whipps faces a tight race for re-election against his predecessor, former Palauan president Tommy Remengesau Jr, who has questioned whether Palau needs to further strengthen military links with the US.
Still, Remengesau was adamant in his support for ties with Taiwan while in office.
Bloomberg has reached out to his campaign for comment, but has not received a reply yet.
Whipps highlighted the exploration of sea floor mining as a point on which he also disagrees with Beijing.
While major governments around the world, including some Pacific neighbors, consider the sea floor an important place to explore for critical minerals to support the green transition, Whipps is an outspoken opponent.
“We have the healthiest tuna stocks in the world, but yet we want to go rip up the bottom of the Pacific and don’t know the consequences of it, because supposedly it’ll help us in the energy transition? We have to look at everything in totality,” he said.
Whipps said he was frustrated with Chinese vessels’ repeated, unauthorized entry into Palau’s exclusive economic zone, which stretches for 200 nautical miles (370km) around the nation.
The president has previously accused Beijing of limiting Chinese visitors to Palau, a particularly sensitive area for the tourism-dependent nation.
“This is where nations that believe in freedom, believe in democracy, believe in the rule of law, need to stick together and protect that,” Whipps said. “Otherwise, we can just be swallowed up.”
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