Palau is one of just 12 countries that has official diplomatic ties with Taiwan. The country's president, Surangel Whipps Jr., has vowed to stick by Taiwan despite pressure from China. TaiwanPlus sat down with President Whipps in Palau’s former capital of Koror as he begins his second term in office.
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00:00As a Pacific island nation in a strategic location, Palau is caught between big world
00:04powers like the US and China and your friendship with Taiwan makes you a target for Beijing.
00:11You flagged economic coercion from China, cyber attacks and Chinese vessels entering your waters.
00:18Have you seen China's tactics change as you're entering into your second term in office?
00:23Well, we definitely see an uptick in organised crime coming into Palau.
00:28Whether it's the online gaming operations, we've had a record number of drug busts at the airport,
00:36Chinese nationals bringing in drugs. These are all issues I think that help weaken
00:44us as a nation and so we're very vigilant and I'm glad that Taiwan is assisting us,
00:50their justice department is assisting us in combating these challenges because
00:57we need good intelligence. We have Chinese research vessels continuing to come into our EEZ,
01:05not respecting our boundaries and our world law and they've even gone into our areas and named
01:12ridges, Chinese names, undersea ridges and then on our extended continental shelf,
01:18they're constantly surveying and try to put Chinese names on those ridges.
01:22Do you think actions like this, Chinese vessels naming
01:26geographical features, ridges, reefs, is an infringement of your sovereignty?
01:31Oh, absolutely. You know, we're a long ways from China but to have ridges within our EEZ
01:42and on our continental shelf that have Chinese names on them because of those research vessels,
01:48to me is a threat to our territorial boundaries.
01:55Let's talk about your relationship with Taiwan. You've been a diplomatic ally of Taiwan for
02:00decades and despite pressure from China to switch allegiance to Beijing,
02:05you've said you've promised to stick by Taiwan. Why?
02:09I think most importantly, we're a free and democratic country. We respect rule of law,
02:18human rights and territorial boundaries and I think as a small nation, if those rules are not
02:25respected, then all our survival is at stake. So now more than ever, I think all countries should
02:33stand by Taiwan, big and small, because I think at the end of the day, we all want to live in
02:39peace and harmony and respect each other's territorial boundaries. At the end of the day,
02:45that's all we're asking for. Keep the status quo and continue to work together to build
02:53a planet that we can all live in harmony. Palau is one of just 12 countries that
03:00officially recognizes Taiwan's sovereignty and you've said that it's important for you
03:04to give Taiwan a voice on the international stage and speak up for Taiwan in places like
03:09the United Nations. Given China's objections and influence, this must be difficult.
03:15Have you personally experienced any pressure or pushback? Chinese officials always tell us you
03:19need to do the right thing and the right thing for them is to denounce Taiwan.
03:25When I say, well, no, that's not an option for us. We're all members of the UN.
03:32We respect your sovereignty. We respect you as a country and you need to respect us as a country
03:39and respect our sovereignty and our decision to recognize Taiwan and we recognize you as
03:47a country. Give us the same courtesy, but obviously that's not what China wants to
03:56agree to and so their narrative is always we need to
04:04change what we're doing and join the rest of the world.