US Defense Secretary Mark Esper made an unprecedented visit to Palau, an archipelago with 20,000 inhabitants, today, illustrating the importance of all parts in the dispute between China and the United States for dominance of the Pacific.
Esper flew half a world this week to visit Palau, which is in the southeast of the Philippines.
There is no sign of a direct Chinese military threat to Palau, but the island country is an example of how even the smallest pieces are highlighted in the geopolitical chess disputed between China and the United States for the position of “great power”.
The power struggle is intensifying on several fronts and is seen by some analysts as a new Cold War, similar to the conflict between the United States and the former Soviet Union, until the collapse of communism in Russia in 1991.
In a challenge to Beijing, the tiny Palau takes a pro-American stance, being one of the 15 states in the world that maintains official diplomatic relations with Taiwan, the island that functions as a sovereign political entity against the will of Beijing, which considers it a Chinese province .
“We are concerned that China will continue to put pressure on countries that recognize Taiwan to establish diplomatic relations with China instead,” said Heino Klinck, deputy assistant secretary of defense for East Asia.
“We think this is destabilizing, frankly,” he said.
The United States made the same change when it recognized Beijing as the only legitimate government in all of China in 1979, although Washington maintains unofficial relations with Taiwan and sells arms to Taipei.
More broadly, Klinck said that Esper wants to reinforce the US commitment to a long-term relationship with Palau.
