KOROR: Pacific island leaders will tackle transnational drug crime as they meet in Palau from Monday for a summit where tensions between Taiwan and China risk overshadowing regional priorities like climate change.
Palau, this year’s host of the 18-member Pacific Islands Forum, is among three members holding diplomatic ties with Taiwan and not China, a large creditor to many island states.
China, Taiwan and the United States are among the aid partners invited to the forum, although not the leaders’ meeting. Beijing has protested Taiwan’s invitation.
On Sunday, Taiwan’s foreign minister Lin Chia-lung cut the ribbon with Palau President Surangel Whipps at a ceremony handing over a fleet of electric buses donated by Taipei.
China retaliated against Lin’s arrival in Palau by declaring the tourism-dependent island an “unsafe” place for travelers, Whipps later told reporters.
