But the country was also damaged by its experience in 2016 when Beijing encouraged tens of thousands of Chinese tourists to visit, but the tap was suddenly turned off when Palau refused to switch diplomatic allegiance from Taiwan.
“People have tasted it. They know there is an economic opportunity with China,” he said. “But it is economic coercion. This is a way to hit Palau. “They hope to beat us into submission, and then we will change our position.”
This warning comes after Nauru's shift from Taiwan to China and Papua New Guinea's interest in concluding a security agreement with Beijing in January. These developments have increased Australian officials' concerns about the Chinese government's intentions towards some of its closest neighbours.
Solomon Islands Prime Minister Manasseh Sogavare, who switched Honiara's allegiance from Taipei to Beijing in 2019, said the region is in the midst of a geopolitical war between China and the West. He pledged on Wednesday to adopt a “look-north foreign policy” that would strengthen the country's ties with China while strengthening ties with other traditional partners such as Australia.
The shift has led Beijing to pump hundreds of millions of dollars into Solomons and has put Australia and the United States on notice as other Pacific nations, including Fiji, weigh the benefits of increased economic investment by China in the face of security implications for the region.
In a letter to an unnamed US senator on February 9, Whipps warned that Congress's failure to pass US$2.3 billion in FAA aid was pushing the Pacific region further toward China. This legislation has languished in Congress since October, along with bills to fund support for Ukraine. COFA is designed to provide economic support to the Pacific region in exchange for continued U.S. military influence over a larger area of the United States.
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“Every day it is not approved plays into the hands of the Chinese Communist Party and leaders here (some of whom have done business with the PRC) who want to accept its seemingly attractive economic offers — at the expense of changing alliances, starting with sacrificing Taiwan,” he wrote.
The letter was first published by Cleo Pascal at the Foundation for Defense of Democracies.
“The People’s Republic of China has already offered to ‘fill every hotel room’ in our tourism-based private sector – and ‘more if more are built.’ This legislation is critical to both our democracies and a free and open Indo-Pacific region.
Palau is one of Taiwan's last ten remaining diplomatic allies, as Beijing intensifies its pursuit of its diplomatic partners by offering millions of dollars in economic investments. The People's Republic of China has made “carrot and stick” efforts to change our alliances, including stopping support for Taiwan, said Hilde Heine, President of the Marshall Islands, which also recognizes Taiwan.
The Chinese Communist Party has never ruled Taiwan, but claims its democratic neighbor as its own, and has waged a decades-long campaign to eliminate its diplomatic allies.
China and the United States have been engaged in a geostrategic competition throughout the Pacific. credit: AP
In November, China's special envoy for the Pacific Islands, Qian Bo, told Pacific leaders that cooperation with China would bring significant economic opportunities to the region.
“China is ready to enhance the synergy of development strategies with Pacific island countries and accelerate the building of a closer community with a shared future between the two sides,” he added.
Haine said her rejection of the Chinese government's proposal to develop an atoll led to an internal push to overthrow her government. “Later, a US court convicted people from the People’s Republic of China for bribing supporters of the proposal in our parliament who voted against me,” she said.
In december, this masthead and 60 minutes It revealed that Chinese officials followed up, sprayed and wrote entire statements on behalf of foreign elected leaders in another Pacific country, the Federated States of Micronesia.
In one email, China's ambassador to Micronesia urged the foreign minister to sign documents committing the country to a new development agreement with Beijing without the president's knowledge.
Former Micronesia President David Panuelo said Pacific leaders must be aware of “the fine line of what they are trying to achieve and do” or “they could besiege your nation in ways you know nothing about.”
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