By Pacific Island Times News Staff
American Samoa’s delegate to the U.S. Congress expects Palau to remain a “staunch U.S. ally” and continue standing up to China under the new administration of Surangel Whipps Jr., who will serve four more years as president of the Pacific island nation.
“I’m pleased with the return of President Whipps as his leadership is important to both the U.S. and Palau, and he has stood strong on shared values despite economic enticement and diplomatic pressures from China,” Rep. Uifa’atali Aumua Amata said.
Whipps received a fresh mandate after defeating his brother-in-law, former president Tommy Remengesau by over 1,000 votes in the Nov. 5 presidential race.
Palau, one of the three remaining Pacific islands nations allied with Taiwan, was “punished” by China in 2018 for refusing to cut ties with Taipei. The Chinese government had canceled Palau’s approved destination status, a designation that authorizes tour groups.
“China plays push-pull with its tourists to Palau—a country that depends substantially on tourism—creating deliberate economic instability when it can’t create dependence,” Cleo Paskal, a non-resident senior fellow at the Foundation for Defense of Democracies, wrote in her column for The Sunday Guardian.
Paskal noted the reemergence of Chinese presence in Palau before the election, which she said presented “an opportunity to put in place representatives that are more in line with its ambitions, or at least weaken institutional integrity so that the systems are less able to resist China’s influence operations.”
In an interview with the AFP news agency, Whipps slammed China anew, accusing the communist nation of disregarding Palau’s maritime borders by sending "invited" research vessels lurking within Palau’s waters.
Whipps will start his second term in office in January 2025 as the renegotiated Compact of Free Association enters its second year.
“I look forward to continuing to work with him in the ongoing implementation of the COFA, upholding the U.S. federal role and obligations, and building on the accomplishments of earlier this year in passing COFA implementation through Congress following extensive negotiations,” Amata said.
“Under his leadership, Palau is a staunch ally of the United States, and last year he led their diplomatic efforts for a new Compact of Free Association 20-year agreement so that the island nation remains one of the freely associated states,” she added.
Amata said the close alliance and relationship between the U.S. and Palau, the Marshall Islands and the Federated States of Micronesia “is essential to their long-term freedom and U.S. strategic necessities to keep the vast Pacific region stable, secure and open for our trading partnerships.”
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