A Little Friend

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President Surangel Whipps Jr. of Palau was talking tough talk recently about China’s alleged incursions of its ships into his tiny Pacific island country’s exclusive economic maritime zone (EEZ), an area that international law stipulates as extending 230 miles from the nation’s coast.

“We keep on raising flags and complaining about it, but they keep on sending them,” he said in a recent interview, according to Newsweek. “They continually don’t respect our sovereignty and our boundaries and just continue to do these activities.”

Chinese leaders recently also gave Chinese names to underwater mountains within Palau’s EEZ. “Why?” Whipps asked. “Why would you do that?”

The reason is obvious. Palau is one of Taiwan’s 12 remaining diplomatic allies. In recent years, Chinese officials have convinced Palau’s regional neighbors – the Solomon Islands, Kiribati and Nauru – to abandon Taiwan, an island that China says is a breakaway territory.

Whipps might have felt emboldened to stand up to China because he recently won reelection, beating his brother-in-law, Tommy Remengesau, by a vote of 5,626 to 4,103, reported Reuters. Palau’s population is 18,000.

His success might have stemmed from his stalwart association with the US – a vital friend for a country like Palau if local leaders want to stand up to China. Earlier this year, Whipps concluded a deal with American leaders where his country would receive $890 million over the next 20 years in exchange for giving the US military access to its EEZ, airspace and territory.

The deal reflected American anxiety over the Solomon Islands signing a security pact with China in 2022, signaling that China was interested in gaining a naval foothold in the South Pacific, the Associated Press added.

Whipps has also expressed interest in the American Patriot missile defense system to counter China’s missile strike capability, wrote the South China Morning Post.

At the same, he alleged that China was “weaponizing tourism” by issuing travel warnings to Chinese tourists who might have been interested in traveling to Palau’s beautiful beaches. China in the past has offered to enrich Palau by encouraging Chinese tourism there. In response, Whipps has pledged to diversify his country’s economy to reduce dependence on Chinese visitors and doubled down on his support for Taiwan, saying that Taiwan deserves a seat in the United Nations, and welcomed Taiwanese investment in his country, the Taipei Times reported.

The spat with China, meanwhile, highlights how China uses financial “carrots and sticks” in its pursuit of Taiwan’s diplomatic isolation. As the Center for Strategic and International Studies noted, Pacific Island nations typically sever ties with Taiwan because of Chinese money.

For example, China allegedly offered parliament members in the Solomon Islands more than $165,000 each to switch to China, doubled the discretionary funds given to lawmakers to use in their respective districts, and bankrolled a flashy $71 million sports stadium built for the Pacific Games.

Taiwan can’t compete with that type of funding.

As a result, the think tank added, Taiwan’s allies are those in the region that can afford to be.