One of Taiwan’s diplomatic allies, the Pacific island nation of Palau, has urged the United States to build permanent military bases on its territory. Palau is located in the southern island chain of the Philippine Sea in the Pacific Ocean, an important position in the power struggle between the United States and China.
Palau, known in Taiwan as Palau, was once one of the U.S. Trust Territories of the Pacific Islands and has close ties with the United States, as well as one of Taiwan’s four remaining diplomatic allies in the Pacific region. It is located on the southern island chain in the Philippine Sea and is one of the gateways to Southeast Asia from the Pacific Ocean.
During a visit to Palau last week, U.S. Defense Secretary Mark Esper criticized Beijing for its “destabilizing activities” in the Pacific region. Palau’s president, Tommy Remengesau, told him that Palau welcomes U.S. troops. In a letter to Esper released this week by the Palau president’s office, Remengesau said “Palau’s request to the U.S. military is simple: build facilities that can be used jointly and on a regular basis,” and said that Palau, with a population of 22,000, is open to U.S. military land bases, port facilities, and airfields, while also suggesting that the U.S. Coast Guard “welcome” the U.S. military to Palau. Guard ships should establish a base in the archipelago’s waters to help monitor its vast expanse of ocean comparable to Spain’s. Palau was a colony of Spain and then Germany.
Palau, a former colony of Spain and then Germany, was the theater of the Pacific War between the U.S. and Japanese forces in World War II, including the important Battle of Belleucia, was occupied by Japan in 1914, became a U.S. Trust Territory of the Pacific Islands in 1947, and became a fully independent nation under the Free Association Agreement with the United States in 1994. The U.S. has defense responsibilities under the same agreement, but no military forces.
The President of Palau has stated that the agreement mechanism should be used to establish U.S. conventional forces in Palau.
The U.S. radar installation project in Palau is reportedly underway, but the project has been suspended due to the impact of the New Crown epidemic.
AFP reports that China has increased diplomatic pressure on Taiwan in recent years and last year succeeded in persuading Taiwan to sever diplomatic relations with its two Pacific states, Kiribati and the Solomon Islands. However, Palau refused to cut diplomatic ties with Taiwan, and in late 2018 China listed Palau as an illegal tourist destination on the grounds that it is not a Chinese state, cutting off Chinese tourists from visiting the country.
During Esper’s three-hour visit to Palau last week, the Palauan president told him that “destabilizing actors are stepping up their efforts to exploit” the epidemic against Palau, though he did not explicitly name China here. He also complained that Beijing was offering preferential loans to the Pacific Islands in exchange for support.
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