Palauan president-elect Surangel Whipps, who will be sworn in on Jan. 21, has vowed to confront Chinese Communist “bullying” in the Pacific and said Palau will align itself with its “true friends” the United States and Taiwan.
According to The Guardian, Surangel Whipps Jr, 52, a wealthy businessman who runs a supermarket, comes from a prominent local family and is a former two-term senator. He will be sworn in on the 21st, replacing his brother-in-law and current president Tommy Remengesau.
In an interview with The Guardian, he said frankly that the United States has proven to be a trusted friend of Palau over the years, the latest demonstration of friendship being the delivery of 6,000 doses of a vaccine developed by the biotech company Moderna Inc, as part of Operation Warp Speed.
He said, “Some people have suggested ‘U.S.-China wrestling thinking’; I think what it’s really about is the exercise of freedom and democracy, and a lot of times we feel it’s important to have a strong partner to support us when big countries are intent on bullying small countries.”
Huizhuren also vowed that Palau would continue to recognize Taiwan and maintain close relations with it despite the CCP’s growing presence in the Pacific.
Hui said, “As a friend of Taiwan, Palau’s position has done a lot of damage to the country by association, and other countries don’t like the Taiwan-Palau relationship and are looking for trouble in international organizations like the United Nations and other Pacific organizations to try to undermine all the things that Palau is promoting, and I think that’s the nature of big countries bullying the weak.”
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