Palau’s President warns of rising nuclear anxiety in the Pacific, after China missile test

Palau’s President Surangel Whipps Jr says countries of the wider Pacific region need to work together to reduce geopolitical tensions and the risk of nuclear conflict.

This comes after China’s test launch of a nuclear-capable ballistic missile with a dummy warhead into the South Pacific on Monday.

Beijing said the test was “consistent with international law and customary international practice and is not directed at any specific country or target”.

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Whipps spoke to RNZ Pacific about his country’s concerns over China’s actions and how Palau wants a more collaborative and transparent approach to international affairs in the Pacific.

(The transcript has been edited for brevity and clarity.)

JOHNNY BLADES: Big news this week in the South Pacific with the test missile launch by China, a nuclear-capable missile test. What are your thoughts about that?

SURANGEL WHIPPS JNR: Well, first of all, Palau was unfortunately in war during the Second World War, a site of one of the bloodiest battles ever. And when the people of Palau passed their Constitution, which today is Constitution Day, 46 years ago, one of the parts of the Constitution was a nuclear-free constitution, and I think that just goes to our ambition to preserve peace and never get into the situation that we were in the Second World War.

So when China acts in very opaque or secretive launches like this, it raises anxiety, fears, and causes great concern for all of us that live on these islands that want to live in peace and harmony, and that was demonstrated last year in Honiara [at the Pacific Islands Forum (PIF)], when we all signed the Pacific Ocean of Peace Declaration.

The missile really went right into the heart of the Pacific, crossing over all of us in the Pacific. Of course, Palau is very close to China, so anything that comes across comes near us. We know in 2024, they launched a missile, they didn’t inform us, this one is launched — they didn’t inform us, and these types of behaviours really go against long standing treaties.

There’s the Hague Code of Conduct, which 145 states subscribe to, about voluntary pre-launch notifications — they didn’t follow that, so this is where we are in very concerning times with these types of activities.

We ask China to act and follow international treaties, respect sovereignty. We understand every country has a way to defend themselves, but at the same time they wouldn’t be allowed to put other countries in harm’s way, and that’s why it’s important that we follow law that we’ve established and treaties that we’ve established.

JB: Is Palau also concerned about the missile tests that the US regularly holds in the Pacific?

SWJ: Well, the US has a base in the Marshall Islands, they follow protocols and inform countries that are in their vicinity about what’s going on. So I think we all understand that countries have to defend themselves, but the reason why we have these protocols is to ensure that we’re all informed and there’s a transparent process.

What is the purpose of this testing? It seems to us that now we’re on a rapid buildup of nuclear capability, which the world was working toward reducing. So we definitely need to work together to bring tensions down and reduce nuclear risk for our ocean.

JB: Were you just saying earlier that China didn’t inform your government before its missile test, because I know it did inform some of the regional countries, at least?

SWJ: Yes, it did not inform us, and [this] also occurred in 2024 where we weren’t informed. We also raised concerns then. Based on where they’re launching them from in China and ending up in the Pacific, they come over our area, and they could easily sway and end up on our islands, that’s of course our concern.

We feel that it’s important that we’re transparent and we’re informed. Interestingly, Chen Bo, the special envoy for China, he was in Fiji when we were having [Forum Troika meeting]. He did not mention to anybody there that they were doing these tests, and this was just a few days before the launch.

You would think that a high official from the Chinese government, who saw me there and met with me, and wanted to talk about issues instead of what they were doing, was quite odd.

JB: Your country is in an interesting position being one of the countries in the region that recognises Taiwan diplomatically, but I note you’ve sort of talked about being open to all partners, and with the Pacific Islands Forum summit coming up in your country, I think you’ve given the nod for China to also join the summit. Is that your approach, kind of like open to all?

SWJ: We have to understand that, first of all, the Pacific Island Leaders Forum that’s being hosted in Palau is a Pacific Island leaders forum, so that means it follows what the Pacific Island leaders agreed to. We all respect the other sovereignty. Yes, I have diplomatic relations with Taiwan. We don’t have diplomatic relations with China, but this is a Pacific Island Forum and under the Pacific Island Forum, China is a dialogue partner, Taiwan is a development partner, both countries contribute to the Pacific Islands Forum. So as partners, as I’ve always said, everyone is welcome.

Now, I’ve also made it very clear that there’s meetings for dialogue partners, there’s meetings for develop partners. These are separate meetings. The only time that Taiwan wasn’t allowed to a Pacific Island Forum meeting was in Solomon Islands, but that wasn’t just Taiwan, it was all all partners were told they weren’t allowed to come.

What I consistently said is that in Palau, of course, everybody is welcome to participate according to all the ways that we participate in all other forums. That’s why China, as a dialogue partner, will come and participate as a developed partner. We don’t have a bilateral relationship, but I guess I’d say through the Forum we have a relationship, and that relationship is respected and valued, just like all relationships that we have with our partner.

The Forum is an opportunity to bring partners in and say, ‘How are you here to help promote the 2050 strategy? Are you here to help promote peace and security?’ I think at the Forum it’s important to bring China, and maybe they can share how they are promoting peace and security for us all in this blue Pacific, which is for us, we feel threatened and concerned and disappointed about their recent actions.

JB: Many Pacific leaders are making clear that Pacific Islands countries want peace. I’m just wondering, with all the geopolitical kind of competition, is it unhelpful that Australia, for instance, is very busy signing these sort of defence and security treaties with various Pacific countries? Does it effectively ratchet up the tension when we need it to be going down?

SWJ: I believe that we should be working with partners to preserve peace and prosperity and freedom. Australia signing declarations with partners, like monument partners that share the same values that respect rule of law, freedom, and democracy is important.

Building alliances to me to ensure a free and open Indo-Pacific that promotes peace that we all want. Palau has, of course, a Compact of Free Association with the United States. It’s very clear our relationship is fine. And the United States has a working relationship with Australia. So these all work together to ensure deterrence, because we all also believe in that if you want peace, you have to be prepared to deter.

JB: Do you think everyone needs to work together a bit more in the wider Pacific, including China and the US, in the Pacific Islands region. Does it need to be more collaborative?

SWJ: I think that’s always the goal — to be able to communicate clearly, so we know what everybody’s intentions are, operate in a transparent manner, and that’s why there’s all these treaties to work toward that area that we can trust each other and that we can work together to promote peace.

Unfortunately, for us in Palau, you would like to see China moving in that direction, but for Palau, that hasn’t been the case. China continues to disrespect our EEZ (exclusive economic zone) again, another research vessel in our area, and maybe it was, who knows, maybe it was here to travel the metal, that missile that was flying over.

But this is why dialogue, transparency, builds trust, cooperation, and reduces tensions, and that’s what I think where it needs to start from.

Unfortunately China acts in manners that bully; for example, they didn’t spend time talking to me about the missile that they’re going to launch. They spent time lecturing me, totally disrespecting Palau, and telling us how to run the Pacific Island Forum, when the Forum has clear rules, the members of all group, too, and trying to tell us how we should run the Pacific Island Forum.

If we don’t do it their way and deny certain countries from coming, then therefore, retaliate. I mean, what kind of language is that? And so that’s deeply concerning to us. Then a few days later, launching a missile just goes to show that they don’t respect our sovereignty. They act in a way to bully us and you are saying things like, ‘well, you’re just a country, we’re a big country’.

Obviously, we know we’re a small country, but we’re still a sovereign country, and our sovereignty should be respected, and also the integrity of the PIF should be respected, and it’s unfortunate they try to bully and and and do what they do.

We all want peace, we want to promote peace and trust and cooperation, and that’s the goal, and that’s why they’re allowed to come to Palau, because is is about us working together in partnership.

JB: Do you think the Pacific Islands Forum that’s coming up in your country will be dominated by this dynamic, this tension of geopolitics, and possibly about dominated by defence discussions?

SWJ: I hope not. This conference should be about building resilience in the Pacific, working toward the 2050 Strategy. How do we have 100 percent renewable Pacific? How do we manage our ocean sustainably, and ask for investment to come into the Pacific, to help us develop fisheires and develop tourism, and the importance of protection of biodiversity so that we can really build a sustainable future, not just for the Pacific, but for the planet, because we believe that a healthy oceans and [give us a] planet.

The biggest security for us is an issue that should be talked about is sea-level rise, storms, the impacts of climate change, not these other geopolitical tensions, which, if anything, we should work to reduce, not inflame. I hope that by having everybody in Palau, we reduce those tensions, not increase them.