Palau President Calls to Give Taiwan a Fair Go at Pacific Islands Forum

At last year’s event, objections from the CCP representative to a mention of Taiwan caused the Forum’s comminique to be hastily rewritten.

Palau President Surangel Whipps speaks as he greets tourists from Taiwan during their arrival in Koror after Taiwan and Palau launched a rare holiday travel bubble as the two diplomatic allies try to kickstart their battered tourist industries after successfully keeping COVID-19 infections at bay on April 1, 2021. Richard W. Brooks/AFP via Getty Images

While Beijing has been successful in pressuring many Pacific nations to repudiate Taiwan, 12 countries still choose to recognise the island nation. Three of those—Palau, the Marshall Islands, and Tuvalu—are full members of the Pacific Islands Forum (PIF).

That makes the yearly meetings of that group an important event for Taiwan, which has been a development partner since 1992. China has been a dialogue partner since 1990, and the two have managed to tolerate one another’s presence.