{"id":387227,"date":"2023-03-14T06:03:07","date_gmt":"2023-03-13T20:03:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/?p=387227"},"modified":"2023-03-14T06:03:07","modified_gmt":"2023-03-13T20:03:07","slug":"fsm-president-accuses-china-of-political-warfare","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/fsm-president-accuses-china-of-political-warfare\/","title":{"rendered":"FSM president accuses China of \u2018political warfare\u2019"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"\"<\/a>
David Panuelo<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

WELLINGTON, New Zealand (AP)\u2014Federated State of Micronesia\u2019s president accused China of \u201cpolitical warfare\u201d in a letter to other national leaders and discussed switching diplomatic allegiance from China to Taiwan in exchange for $50 million.<\/p>\n

President David Panuelo said China had been using nefarious tactics, including spying and offering bribes, in an effort to ensure that if it goes to war with Taiwan, Micronesia would be aligned with China rather than the United States, or would at least abstain from taking sides.<\/p>\n

Panuelo sent the 13-page letter dated March 9, which was obtained by The Associated Press, to state governors and other political leaders of the Pacific nation.<\/p>\n

The letter represented an unusually frank assessment of China\u2019s motives in the region and laid bare the financial incentives for smaller countries to switch diplomatic allegiance.<\/p>\n

Should Micronesia switch allegiance to Taiwan, it would represent a rare win for the self-governing island, after several Pacific nations switched allegiance from Taiwan to China in recent years.<\/p>\n

\u201cI believe that our values are presently being used against us\u201d Panuelo wrote in his letter. \u201cOne of the reasons that China\u2019s political warfare is successful in so many arenas is that we are bribed to be complicit, bribed to be silent.\u201d<\/p>\n

He gave examples, saying that when the vice president was a senator, he was asked by China\u2019s ambassador to accept an envelope filled with money, which he refused.<\/p>\n

China denied the allegations.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe noted relevant reports, in which the smear and accusations against China are completely inconsistent with the facts,\u201d Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Mao Ning said at a daily briefing Friday.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019ve always respected Micronesia\u2019s development path that it has chosen in light of its own national conditions and have supported the Micronesian side in safeguarding independence,\u201d Mao said.<\/p>\n

Panuelo gave other examples of what he called China\u2019s \u201cgrey zone\u201d activities. He said that Chinese research vessels had been operating inside Micronesia\u2019s ocean territory to spy, by mapping potential resources and submarine travel paths.<\/p>\n

He said that when he traveled to Fiji in July to attend the Pacific Islands Forum, he was followed around by two Chinese men, who Micronesia discovered worked for the Chinese Embassy in Fiji and included an intelligence officer.<\/p>\n

\u201cTo be clear: I have had direct threats against my personal safety from PRC (People\u2019s Republic of China) officials acting in an official capacity,\u201d Panuelo wrote.<\/p>\n

He said that in February, he met with Taiwan\u2019s Foreign Minister Joseph Wu and told him that Micronesia would need money for its trust fund if it was to switch diplomatic allegiance.<\/p>\n

\u201cI was transparent with Foreign Minister Wu; we project we need an injection of approximately $50 million to meet our future needs,\u201d Panuelo wrote. \u201cWe can and will receive this, over a three-year period, if and when we establish diplomatic relations with Taiwan.\u201d<\/p>\n

He said Micronesia would also receive an annual $15 million assistance package and Taiwan would take over various projects that China had begun, including a national convention center, two state government complexes, and two gyms.<\/p>\n

Taiwan\u2019s foreign ministry declined to comment on the specifics of Panuelo\u2019s letter.<\/p>\n

\u201cTaiwan shares core values such as democracy, freedom, human rights, and the rule of law with like-minded countries that care about peace in the Pacific region,\u201d the ministry said in a statement. \u201cAs a responsible member of the Indo-Pacific region, we will continue to work hand in hand with like-minded countries around the world.\u201d<\/p>\n

Panuelo concluded by saying he loved Micronesia too much not to inform them of the kinds of threats and opportunities the country faced, even if writing the letter put himself, his family and his staff at risk.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

WELLINGTON, New Zealand (AP)\u2014Federated State of Micronesia\u2019s president accused China of \u201cpolitical warfare\u201d in a…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":11,"featured_media":387228,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[900],"tags":[169,478],"class_list":["post-387227","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-featured","tag-china","tag-fsm"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/387227","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/11"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=387227"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/387227\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/387228"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=387227"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=387227"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=387227"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}