President Tommy Remenegsau, Jr said that reports of China’s alleged militarization in the Pacific should be everyone’s concern.
Speaking before the press during a weekly presidential media conference, Remengesau said that conflicts involving several countries in the Pacific such as the North and South Korea, China-Taiwan Strait issue, and the territorial dispute over South China Sea among the Philippines, Taiwan, and other countries affect the instability of the region, hence prompting Palau to support a stronger United States military presence here.
“[We] would like the US to be a strong partner in the Indo-Pacific Strategy which aims to ensure that there is freedom of navigation, that there is freedom of respect, so you don’t just sail through the waters of Palau without recognizing that we do have our [Exclusive Economic Zone(EEZ),” Remengesau said in a press conference he attended for the first time after a meeting with US President Donald Trump and two other FAS leaders in Washington last week.
Remengesau also underscored the importance of having more investments in the private sector coming from the US, pointing out that even though Palau is one of the US’ closest allies, most of the investments here are from Chinese, Japanese, and Koreans, among others.
According to Remengesau, during the meeting, the leaders had discussed about Overseas Private Investment Corporation (OPIC), a US government arm that works with American business entities to put investments outside the US.
In our previous report, Remengesau wrote an op-ed article for The Hill ahead of his meeting with Trump where he said that it is the Western Pacific that hostilities would likely happen if the trade war between the US and China escalate into an actual war. (By Rhealyn C. Pojas)