Empty hotel rooms, idle tour boats and shuttered travel agencies reveal widening fissures in the tiny Pacific nation of Palau, which is caught in an escalating diplomatic tug-of-war between China and Taiwan.Late last year, China effectively banned tour groups to the idyllic tropical archipelago, branding it an illegal destination due to its lack of diplomatic status.
As China extends its influence across the Pacific, Palau is one of Taipei's 18 remaining allies worldwide and is under pressure to switch allegiances, officials and business people there say.
"There is an ongoing discussion about China weaponizing tourism," said Jeffrey Barabe, owner of Palau Central Hotel and Palau Carolines Resort in Koror. "Some believe that the dollars were allowed to flow in and now they are pulling it back to try and get Palau to establish ties diplomatically."
In the commercial center of Koror, the Chinese pullback is obvious. Hotel blocks and restaurants stand empty, travel agencies are boarded and boats which take tourists to Palau's green, mushroom shaped Rock Islands are docked at the piers.
Prior to the ban, Chinese tourists accounted for about half the visitors to Palau. Of the 122,000 visitors in 2017, 55,000 were from China and 9,000 from Taiwan, official data showed.
Sunday, August 19, 2018
China: Why are we doing business with Communists?
Chicoms always lie, Chicoms always double down, Chicoms always project. They killed 100 million Chinese people in the 20th Century, and they have not changed at all.
Ruining the livelihoods of a whole island full of people for diplomatic political points. This is how they roll.
Why are we still doing business with these assholes? They're not good people.
The Phantom
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2 comments:
I read the article and had the same thought. Actually, I've been having this thought daily for a couple of years now. I'm tired of us bankrolling the Chinese growth and dominance over the world. As they get stronger, the world's freedom shrinks. Not to mention the boatloads (literally) of subpar goods (crap) that we bring into this country daily. I'm tired of it.
What would happen to their system of they lost the American market?
They'd be screwed, is what would happen. That's why they're fiddling around wrecking tourist island economies instead of straight-up invading Taiwan. Taking Taiwan isn't going to save them from losing the USA.
Personally, I think they're already deeply screwed, their own internal corruption imposes a weight they can't keep holding up.
The reason I think that is the immense number of rich Chinese nationals buying houses in Western nations. People don't buy houses they will never visit unless they think they might need to run someday.
All the more reason to stop dealing with the Communists. Let them fix their own country.
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