US bars Palau Senate president, former Marshall Islands mayor from entry

WASHINGTON - The United States on Feb 10 barred Palau Senate President Hokkons Baules and his family from entering the US, accusing him of corruption linked to China, as Washington pushes back on Beijing’s effort to boost its influence in the Pacific.

“Baules abused his public position by accepting bribes in exchange for providing advocacy and support for government, business, and criminal interests from China,” State Department spokesman Tommy Pigott said in a statement.

“His actions constituted significant corruption and adversely affected US interests in Palau,” Mr Pigott said.

The department also designated Mr Anderson Jibas, a former mayor from the Marshall Islands, who it said had been involved in “theft, misuse, and abuse of funds” from the US-provided Bikini Resettlement Trust intended to address the legacy of US nuclear bomb testing in the 1940s and 1950s.

The designations will bar the two men and their immediate family members from entering the United States.

The embassies of Palau and the Marshall Islands in Washington did not respond immediately to Reuters’ requests for comment.

Reuters could not reach Mr Baules or Mr Jibas for comment.

Palau and the Marshall Islands, two strategically positioned US-allied Pacific Island nations, have in recent years become a focus in an intensifying geopolitical contest between Washington and Beijing.

Both countries receive economic support from the US through their Compacts of Free Association and in return Washington is responsible for their defence while gaining exclusive military access to strategic swathes of the Pacific.

But China, keen to make inroads in the region, has been wooing the financially strapped Pacific economies with development and economic opportunities.

Mr Baules, who pleaded guilty to heroin trafficking in 1989, has been one of the island’s most vociferous advocates for China.

Under his leadership, the senate has passed resolutions criticising US military activity in Palau, while he has personally advocated for expanded ties with China.

Corporate records reviewed by Reuters show that his family operates a local business called Fuji Restaurant, which Palauan authorities have linked to Chinese criminal activity.

“Corruption is an open door to advance its (China’s) agenda, especially in countries that recognise Taiwan and have critical US military bases,” said Ms Cleo Paskal, an expert on the COFA states with the Foundation for Defence of Democracies think tank.

Palau and the Marshall Islands are among the few remaining states that maintain official diplomatic ties with Taiwan, the democratically governed island China claims as its territory.

In recent years, Palau officials have sought increased US patrols of its waters after incursions by Chinese vessels into its exclusive economic zone.

Palau also hosts American-controlled airstrips and the US military is building advanced radar stations there.

Kwajalein Atoll in the Marshall Islands is home to a critical testing base for US missile defences. REUTERS