She stated that both nations recognize Taiwan and play a significant role in US Pacific defense layout. ” Watch out for increased ( Chinese ) political conflict centered on the US’s unreliable partner.”
According to Paskal, Palau’s money under its current COFA had decreased as it neared its end of the year and it had been relying on money from the new package to help support budget deficits.
Paskal claimed that COVID-19 and Chinese financial disturbance had already had a negative impact on Palau’s business, pressuring it to move diplomatic recognition from Taiwan, which was supported by the US, to Beijing.
The Marshall Islands have not yet finalized fresh agreements with Washington due to disagreements over how to deal with the reputation of extensive US nuclear tests there in the 1940s and 1950s, so there is no new funding for them either.
China, however, is waiting in the wings with cash on hand.
Kaleb Udui, the finance minister of Palau, told a legislative field hearing last week that Beijing had been attempting to persuade locals to oppose US plans to build an early-warning radar by offering to erect an adjacent hotel and casino. This was according to Roll Call, an online news source covering the US Congress.
Requests for comment were not promptly answered by the Washington offices in Palau and the Marshall Islands.
The Biden administration has prioritized and received widespread bipartisan support for renewing the COFAs, but legislative squabbling is not the only obstacle.
From 2020 until his retirement last month, Howard Hills served as a senior advisor to the US COFA negotiating team. He attributed the Marshall Islands flow to US State Department attorneys who wanted to regulate how new money was spent and objected to funds being set aside to handle the nuclear tradition out of concern that it might open the door to additional claims.
When asked for comment, the State Department responded that Washington & nbsp was” working expeditiously to finalize negotiations” with the Marshall Islands and had” productive conversations to that end” at the US-Pacific Islands Forum Summit last week, including” at the Presidential level.”