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POLITICS-PALAU-TAIWAN-PACIFIC-DIPLOMACY
Taiwan president shores up dwindling allies on Pacific tour
KOROR, Palau, March 23, 2019 (BSS/AFP) – Visiting Taiwan President Tsai
Ing-wen has pledged a tourism boost and gifted a coast guard vessel to the
remote Pacific microstate of Palau, as she works to check a push for regional
influence by rival China.
Tsai arrived in Palau on Thursday to kick off her second official visit to
the Pacific, amid growing concerns over Beijing’s attempt to lure away
Taipei’s few remaining diplomatic allies.
Her overtures this week included a pledge to increase flights to the tiny
island state, which is struggling to boost tourism after cutting back on
charter flights from mainland China.
Tsai said national carrier China Airlines would add a fourth weekly flight
to Palau to bolster the local tourism industry, which has been dominated by
visitors from mainland China.
She also gifted a coastal frigate for patrol of a new conservation area,
to be established when the country closes part of its exclusive economic zone
to commercial fishing by next year. The Taiwan leader made the commitments
late Friday after meetings with Palau President Tommy Remengesau, who
reaffirmed his tiny nation’s “lasting friendship” with her country.
“As our friends from Taiwan know all too well, as island states, securing
our ocean spaces is vital to allow our respective national projects to
flourish,” he said.
Remengesau added that Palau students currently on scholarships at the
Taiwan Naval Academy would join its crew.
The Taiwanese naval patrol frigate Hsun Hu No. 7 took part in joint
exercises with Palau’s Coast Guard on Saturday.
Tsai addressed Palau’s congress on Friday, thanking them for “their
longstanding commitment to speaking up for Taiwan” at the UN and other world
bodies, as well as for “upholding the core values of democracy and freedom”.
But the fragility of that support was underscored when both the Senate
president and speaker, backers of shifting Palau’s recognition from Taiwan to
China, skipped the event.
Beijing has stepped up diplomatic pressure on Taiwan since Tsai took
office in 2016, as she has refused to acknowledge its “one China” policy that
considers the self-ruling island a renegade province to be brought back into
the fold.
Five countries have switched official recognition to Beijing since Tsai
became president, leaving Taipei with only 17 diplomatic allies including six
in the Pacific, where China has been boosting its economic and military
presence.
Tsai leaves Palau on Sunday for Nauru and then the Marshall Islands.
Tsai is due to wrap up her tour by transiting through Hawaii on March 27,
drawing a protest by Beijing to Washington, which switched diplomatic
recognition from Taiwan to China in 1979 but remains Taiwan’s most powerful
unofficial ally and biggest arms supplier.
BSS/AFP/SSS/0843 hrs