Palauan President Surangel Whipps Jr on Tuesday said that Taiwanese “deserve to have a voice” at the UN and encouraged Taiwanese private enterprises to invest in Palau.
Whipps, who has clinched another term in office, said in a video interview with the Central News Agency that he felt Taiwan’s participation in international organizations, including the UN, “can only make the world a better place.”
“The 23 million people in Taiwan deserve to have a voice,” he said.
Photo: CNA
Whipps also talked about his “strong relationship” with President William Lai (賴清德), Chinese economic pressure and Palau’s relationship with the US.
“We want Taiwanese investment in Palau,” Whipps said, adding that he attended the World Taiwanese Chambers of Commerce (WTCC) annual meeting and met Lai in Kaohsiung in September.
“We look at Palau as a small island with potential in certain sectors,” said the Palauan president, who has led the island nation since 2021.
“And we want to partner with our friends from Taiwan, especially Taiwanese businesses, that want to come and ... look at those opportunities,” he added.
Noting that Lai had visited Palau as vice president, Whipps said he expected to have another conversation with Taiwan’s leader soon.
“I swam with him, so I know him very well,” Whipps said of Lai. “He took me shrimp farming when I went to his inauguration. So we’re looking forward to conversing and continuing to build on the strong relationship.”
Asked about recent Chinese economic pressure on his country, Whipps said that Palau had been “working hard” to diversify its economy to ensure “economic resilience” amid a decline in the number of Chinese tourists orchestrated by Beijing.
“Palau is a sovereign country, and we have a right to choose who our friends are,” Whipps said, citing the fact that Taiwan is self-governing and has the “same values” as reasons why Palau has chosen to maintain diplomatic relations with Taiwan.
Palau is one of 12 countries worldwide that maintain diplomatic ties with Taiwan.
Whipps, who won a second four-year term as president in an election held on Tuesday last week, said he had not received “any message” from Beijing since then.
“I can tell you that before the election, there was a Chinese vessel within our EEZ,” Whipps said, referring to the exclusive economic zone specified in the UN Convention on the Law of the Sea.
“As of today, there’s another one that’s in our EEZ. That’s a research vessel that shouldn’t be in our EEZ, because they need permission. So that’s the only communication I had with China,” he added.
Speaking about US president-elect Donald Trump’s victory in the US presidential election on Tuesday last week, the same day as Palau’s election, Whipps said Palau’s relationship with Washington “remains firm.”
Both Democrats and Republicans “understand the importance of Pacific relations,” he said, while expressing an interest in opening a dialogue with Trump to address climate change.
He also applauded US businessman Elon Musk’s “incredible work,” especially in the field of electric vehicles, which he said was the kind of technology needed to “help solve our climate problems.”
‘NON-RED’: Taiwan and Ireland should work together to foster a values-driven, democratic economic system, leveraging their complementary industries, Lai said President William Lai (賴清德) yesterday expressed hopes for closer ties between Taiwan and Ireland, and that both countries could collaborate to create a values-driven, democracy-centered economic system. He made the remarks while meeting with an Irish cross-party parliamentary delegation visiting Taiwan. The delegation, led by John McGuinness, deputy speaker of the Irish house of representatives, known as the Dail, includes Irish lawmakers Malcolm Byrne, Barry Ward, Ken O’Flynn and Teresa Costello. McGuinness, who chairs the Ireland-Taiwan Parliamentary Friendship Association, is a friend of Taiwan, and under his leadership, the association’s influence has grown over the past few years, Lai said. Ireland is
FINAL COUNTDOWN: About 50,000 attended a pro-recall rally yesterday, while the KMT and the TPP plan to rally against the recall votes today Democracy activists, together with arts and education representatives, yesterday organized a motorcade, while thousands gathered on Ketagalan Boulevard in Taipei in the evening in support of tomorrow’s recall votes. Recall votes for 24 Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) lawmakers and suspended Hsinchu City mayor Ann Kao (高虹安) are to be held tomorrow, while recall votes for seven other KMT lawmakers are scheduled for Aug. 23. The afternoon motorcade was led by the Spring Breeze Culture and Arts Foundation, the Tyzen Hsiao Foundation and the Friends of Lee Teng-hui Association, and was joined by delegates from the Taiwan Statebuilding Party and the Taiwan Solidarity
A saleswoman, surnamed Chen (陳), earlier this month was handed an 18-month prison term for embezzling more than 2,000 pairs of shoes while working at a department store in Tainan. The Tainan District Court convicted Chen of embezzlement in a ruling on July 7, sentencing her to prison for illegally profiting NT$7.32 million (US$248,929) at the expense of her employer. Chen was also given the opportunity to reach a financial settlement, but she declined. Chen was responsible for the sales counter of Nike shoes at Tainan’s Shinkong Mitsukoshi Zhongshan branch, where she had been employed since October 2019. She had previously worked
An SOS message in a bottle has been found in Ireland that is believed to have come from the Taiwanese captain of fishing vessel Yong Yu Sing No. 18 (永裕興18號), who has been missing without a trace for over four years, along with nine Indonesian crew members. The vessel, registered to Suao (蘇澳), went missing near Hawaii on Dec. 30, 2020. The ship has since been recovered, but the 10 crew members have never been found. The captain, surnamed Lee (李), is believed to have signed the note with his name. A post appeared on Reddit on Tuesday after a man
RSS