China’s Envoy Was Disrespectful in Push to Exclude Taiwan, Palauan President Says

KOROR, Palau—Palauan President Surangel Whipps Jr. has said that a Chinese diplomat disrespected his country during a tense meeting over Taiwan’s participation in a regional summit hosted by Palau.

Whipps is hosting the leaders’ meeting of the Pacific Islands Forum, the region’s leading 18-member bloc, which includes Australia and New Zealand.

Speaking to The Epoch Times on Aug. 30, Whipps said that at an earlier Pacific Islands Forum event, Qian Bo, China’s special envoy for Pacific island countries’ affairs, had insisted on meeting him. This was at the Forum Troika leaders’ meeting in Suva, Fiji’s capital, which ran for two days ending on July 1. At one point, Qian confronted Whipps, leading to a tense exchange between the two.

Whipps said Qian told him that Taiwan could not participate in the forum, in line with Beijing’s position that Taiwan is part of China. Whipps rejected the demand and said the conversation ended with Qian issuing a warning.

“So then, at the end of the conversation, he [Qian] basically said, ‘Well, we’re going to have to retaliate,’” Whipps said. 

On Aug. 19, China’s Ministry of Culture and Tourism issued a travel warning for Palau, one of the region’s safest countries, urging its citizens to exercise caution and citing reports of theft and robbery targeting tourists. The warning drew criticism from the United States, with the U.S. Embassy in Koror saying that China should not “weaponize tourism to coerce Palau.”

Whipps likened China’s diplomatic approach to an unsettling form of courtship.

“If you want somebody to love you, usually you come with chocolates and nice cards,” Whipps said. “But these guys, they start with one sweet word, and if you don’t behave, slap you. And they say that’s love, but … that’s not partnership.”

Whipps called Qian’s conduct “not appropriate.”

He said that there should be “a little bit of respect” in diplomatic exchange and that if Chinese leader Xi Jinping wanted to speak with him, he would be willing to have the conversation.

However, according to Whipps, Qian responded: “‘But you’re a small country.’”

“It doesn’t matter,” Whipps told The Epoch Times. “We’re a country.”

Recalling the exchange, Whipps maintained that Palau had offered courtesy but walked away after being disrespected.

“We don’t need to have the conversation,” he said.

Qian, before assuming his current post, was China’s ambassador to Fiji from 2018 to 2022. 

In October 2020, a Taiwanese diplomatic official in Fiji suffered a head injury and ended up in the hospital after he was assaulted by Chinese officials who tried to crash a reception held by Taiwan’s diplomatic mission to the South Pacific nation.

Whipps has visited Taiwan several times, having met both Taiwanese President Lai Ching-te and his predecessor Tsai Ing-wen.

Palau, the Marshall Islands, and Tuvalu, all forum members, are among Taiwan’s 12 diplomatic allies. 

China claims sovereignty over democratically governed Taiwan, insisting that the island has no right to participate as an independent state in international bodies.

Taiwan has been participating in the forum since 1993 as a developing partner, but it was excluded from last year’s gathering in the Solomon Islands, which switched diplomatic ties from Taipei to Beijing in 2019. 

At Whipps’s invitation, Taiwanese Foreign Minister Lin Chia-lung is leading a delegation to Palau. On Aug. 29, Whipps, Lin, and representatives from other countries, including the United States, Japan, and Australia, participated in the Pacific Prosperity Exhibit. 

Whipps said his decision to invite Taiwan reflected his view that the forum should focus on Pacific issues and the needs of Pacific island nations.

“So you should be here talking about what you’re going to be doing for the Pacific and how you’re going to be partnering with the Pacific. Forget all the other noise,” Whipps said.