{"id":394274,"date":"2023-06-21T06:06:31","date_gmt":"2023-06-20T20:06:31","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/?p=394274"},"modified":"2023-06-21T06:06:31","modified_gmt":"2023-06-20T20:06:31","slug":"palau-leader-stresses-need-for-us-help-to-deter-china","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/palau-leader-stresses-need-for-us-help-to-deter-china\/","title":{"rendered":"Palau leader stresses need for US help to deter China"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"\"<\/a>
Surangel Whipps Jr.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

TOKYO (AP)\u2014The Pacific island nation of Palau needs U.S. help to deter China\u2019s \u201cunwanted activities\u201d around its coasts, its leader said Thursday and repeated his government\u2019s determination to maintain diplomatic ties with Taiwan.<\/p>\n

Palau\u2019s President Surangel Whipps Jr. told a news conference in Tokyo that three Chinese boats have made \u201cuninvited\u201d entries into his country\u2019s waters since he took office in 2021, stressing the need for further U.S. backing to enhance deterrence against China\u2019s assertive move in the region.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe United States is responsible for our security and we would also inform them that we need them to engage and help us in deterring any unwanted activities,\u201d Whipps said.<\/p>\n

Whipps said Chinese vessels appeared to be conducting surveying activities in the Palau waters \u201cwithout our permission.\u201d He said they sailed in straight from China as they approached very slowly over sensitive areas where fiber optic cables exist. He described the activity as \u201ca violation of international rules-based order.\u201d<\/p>\n

The first thing Palau\u2019s maritime authorities would do in such cases is to call up the U.S. Coast Guard but its units are based in Guam and may not always be able to come to the rescue, such as in case of a typhoon, he said.<\/p>\n

Even though China\u2019s presence is important for Palau\u2019s economy and tourism, the island nation still maintains diplomatic ties with Taiwan.<\/p>\n

\u201cOur administration has made clear that we are enemies to none, friends to all,\u201d Whipps said. \u201cAs long as we are friends of Taiwan, we accept anybody to be our friend, but that friend cannot tell us you cannot be somebody else\u2019s friend because he is not our friend.\u201d<\/p>\n

Whippes suggested his country was punished for keeping diplomatic ties with Taiwan, citing the sharp drop in Chinese tourists, who accounted for about two-thirds of Palau\u2019s tourism until late 2010s, to near zero.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe will continue to be a strong ally and friend of Taiwan,\u201d said Whipps Jr. \u201cAs long as I\u2019m the president, I\u2019m not changing.\u201d<\/p>\n

The United States and its ally Japan, as well as Australia, have been stepping up their economic and security cooperation and engagement in the Pacific region in the face of China\u2019s increasingly assertive activity there.<\/p>\n

Prime Minister Fumio Kishida, during his talks Thursday with Whipps, pledged Japanese support for Palau\u2019s tourism promotion, infrastructure reinforcement and other areas, while strengthening economic and security cooperation between the two countries.<\/p>\n

During his visit in Japan, Whipps also visited the tsunami-wrecked Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant to see its preparation for a planned release of treated radioactive wastewater into the Pacific Ocean this summer.<\/p>\n

He said he trusts Japan\u2019s safety measures and felt reassured after visiting and the plant and the region first hand.<\/p>\n

The plan has faced fierce protests from local fishing communities concerned about safety and reputational damage. Nearby countries, including South Korea, China and a number of Pacific Island nations, have also raised safety concerns.<\/p>\n

Japanese officials say the water is tested, diluted with massive amounts of seawater before sea discharge over decades, making it harmless to people and marine life. Some respected scientists say the impact of long-term, low-dose exposure to radionuclides is unknown and the release should be delayed.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

TOKYO (AP)\u2014The Pacific island nation of Palau needs U.S. help to deter China\u2019s \u201cunwanted activities\u201d…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":9,"featured_media":394277,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[169,319,320],"class_list":["post-394274","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-local-news","tag-china","tag-palau","tag-us"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/394274","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\/9"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=394274"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/394274\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/394277"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=394274"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=394274"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=394274"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}