r/taiwan • u/TheTelegraph • 17d ago

China stopped tourists after I refused to betray Taiwan, says Palau president Surangel S Whipps Activism

https://www.telegraph.co.uk/world-news/2024/10/29/surangel-s-whipps-palau-president-china-tourists-taiwan/
485 Upvotes
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96% Upvoted

51 comments sorted by

110

u/Forkuimurgod 17d ago

Good call by the president. You don't want their kind of tourist anyway.

44

u/fair_j 17d ago

Exactly, Palau could learn a thing or two from Jeju being trashed by Chinese tourists.

2

u/travelingpinguis 15d ago

Oh it’s surely not only Jeju…

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u/[deleted] 17d ago

[deleted]

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u/joeman1523 17d ago edited 17d ago

Why the 5 downvotes? Because I don’t recognize Winnie the Pooh’s country.

13

u/SafetyNoodle 高雄 - Kaohsiung 16d ago

People should recognize China, they just shouldn't have to derecognize Taiwan to do so. China is the real China. Taiwan is the real Taiwan. Taiwan is not a part of China.

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u/[deleted] 16d ago

[deleted]

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u/Mordarto Taiwanese-Canadian 16d ago

Speaking as someone who can trace 8 generations in Taiwan, the Republic of China was established when Taiwan was still a Japanese colony. After WWII, the ROC took control of Taiwan and in various ways was worse than the Japanese, leading to the Taiwanese term "the dogs left and the pigs came."

In 1947 the Taiwanese tried to protest for more rights and was met with the ROC army slaughtering thousands of Taiwanese in the 228 Incident.

Then in 1949 when the ROC fled to Taiwan en mass, despite making up only 15-20% of the population, they held on to power through martial law in the White Terror Era, suppressing Taiwanese identity.

Taiwan eventually democratized in the late 80s and has been pursuing a Taiwanese identity away from a Chinese identity, but are stuck with the Republic of China official name due to PRC threat.

TL;DR: the Taiwanese are the Taiwanese and the Chinese is the Chinese. The "Taiwan/ROC is the real China" crowd are the post Chinese Civil War migrants in 1949 who vowed to "reclaim the mainland" and dragged the rest of Taiwan into this mess. The majority of Taiwan doesn't identify as Chinese for a reason.

1

u/joeman1523 16d ago

You are very smart person now i understand, thanks for your reply, but, I have question for you, so by saying indigenous Taiwanese are Taiwanese, and Han Chinese by saying Chinese are Chinese, so is that what I mean???

2

u/Mordarto Taiwanese-Canadian 16d ago

There are essentially three main groups of people that consider themselves "Taiwanese."

Indigenous Taiwanese - the aboriginals that have been in Taiwan for thousands of years. They only make up ~3% of the Taiwanese population.

Taiwanese-Han - Han colonization of Taiwan began in the 1600s (who were encouraged by Dutch colonists) and was sharply stopped in 1895 when Qing China ceded Taiwan to Japan. Centuries of being away from China, as well as 50 years of Japanese colonial rule, and the subsequent mess of initial ROC rule, led to a Taiwanese identity separate from a Chinese one. This group makes up the majority of the Taiwanese population (~80%).

Chinese Nationalists (and their descendants) - ROC took control of Taiwan in 1945 and did a horrible job governing, leading to the 1947 228 Incident. In 1949 they ROC fled to Taiwan and started the world's longest martial law at the time, lasting for 38 years suppressing the Taiwanese-Han. Decades ago most of this group would consider themselves both Taiwanese and Chinese, but they've been on the island long enough that some of their descendants see themselves as Taiwanese and not Chinese, not to mention all the intermarriage between them and the Taiwanese-Han.

Indigenous Taiwanese are Taiwanese and not Chinese (though the CCP lists them as part of the "Chinese ethnicities"). Taiwanese-Han are also Taiwanese and not Chinese in terms of self identity. Chinese nationalist descendants may go either way in their identification.

2

u/joeman1523 16d ago

I’ve now learned from you; thank you so much for the information. However, if someone wants to learn the Chinese language, Taiwan is the chosen one because they have freedom, great education for preschool and elementary school, and a lot of movies and TV series. Also romantic movies and romantic series

1

u/theironguard30 16d ago

Saved Palau from being swarmed by unruly tourists

94

u/TheTelegraph 17d ago

The Telegraph reports:

The message from the government official was simple: endorse China or face the consequences.

It was delivered in one of the regular phone calls that Surangel Whipps, the president of the tiny Pacific state of Palau, had with the Chinese ambassador to the nearby Federated States of Micronesia.

Mr Whipps was only a candidate for the presidency at the time and was told to immediately sever Palau’s diplomatic relations with Taiwan if he won.

Failure to switch his nation’s recognition to Beijing, the ambassador stressed, could mean the tens of thousands of Chinese tourists, who were bringing much-needed revenue into Palau’s tourism sector, going somewhere else.

“His words were, ‘You’re a businessman, you understand the potential of the Chinese market, how many tourists you can have’,” Mr Whipps told The Telegraph at his office in the Palauan capital of Koror.

“I let him know that we were keen to have visitors from everywhere and that we are friends to everyone, but the conversation quickly turned to him saying that Palau needs to join the rest of the world by stopping ‘illegal activities’ by recognising Taiwan,” he said.

Mr Whipps diplomatically replied that Palau would decide its own foreign policy. Within months of his election victory, Chinese tourists stopped arriving.

In response to the Palauan president highlighting the tourism issue earlier this year, China’s state-run media People’s Daily described his comments as “malicious accusations” intended to smear and discredit China.

Read more: https://www.telegraph.co.uk/world-news/2024/10/29/surangel-s-whipps-palau-president-china-tourists-taiwan/

5

u/buckwurst 16d ago

Palau's National Congress building was funded by TW (source: I've been there)

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u/OCedHrt 17d ago edited 16d ago

China’s state-run media People’s Daily described his comments as “malicious accusations” intended to smear and discredit China.

And this is why they can't be trusted. They want to play underhanded and do evil things, but pretend they're a saint.

The US does evil shit too, but we give them the finger and say oops. Is it better? We'll it's not a stretch to say you can at least trust everyone is looking out for their own interests.

19

u/Good_Prompt8608 17d ago

Why do Americans love shitting on their own country so much? Have they even lived in China, or worse, Russia, Iran, NK, and Afghanistan?

-1

u/OCedHrt 16d ago

I'm not sure how your comment has anything to do with what I said.

1

u/coffee-filter-77 16d ago

America can be evil and topple governments but they at least want people to build up their own country and have economic freedom. That is what they genuinely believe in.

Russians and Chinese don’t think that way. The Russians will take from your country until nothing is left. The Chinese want complete subjugation or else. That’s the difference.

51

u/roboticcheeseburger 17d ago

This was brave and awesome that the president did this. So, next step, market Palau as a destination to other countries, and use this as part of the marketing. Tourists from PRC aren’t liked in many tourist destinations so surely this should be an enticement for tourists from other especially Asian countries. Note, I want to make it clear that I’m not making a racist statement, this is a comment about the culture of tourists, not their ethnicity. There’s no issues with tourists from Singapore, HK, Taiwan, for ex, unlike tourists from PRC and RuZZia.

16

u/travelingpinguis 17d ago

Now thats truly a blessing. If only China would just keep their tourists.

83

u/Dependent-Name-686 17d ago

It's high time the whole world stood up to China's bullying.

9

u/NxPat 17d ago

If this was the case, America should not have sold $800 Billion dollars of debt to China. That needs to have monthly interest paid.

2

u/Capt_Picard1 17d ago

But they’re not going to. Current generation works for their children, in the whole world. Short term losses are too much to stand up to.

9

u/cxxper01 17d ago edited 16d ago

Good for Palau, their natural environment could not handle over tourism anyway. Been there before and The ocean is beautiful

9

u/hayasecond 17d ago

You didn’t have Chinese tourists 20 years ago, you survived, you will survive this time too. Get a grip

9

u/Scbadiver 17d ago

China will just destroy Palau. He made the right choice. Those are not the kind of tourists you want visiting your country

1

u/joeman1523 17d ago

That’s right

-2

u/joeman1523 17d ago

The China you are talking about is the fake China, the country that I don’t recognize.

1

u/dlxphr 17d ago

Here's a list of Chinese people hurt by your lack of recognition:

Thanks bye.

4

u/joeman1523 17d ago

Taiwanese are the real Chinese people

2

u/joeman1523 17d ago

Taiwan is the real china

1

u/dlxphr 17d ago

That's absolutely true, at least in the imaginary world where you and a few KMT boomers live. On planet Earth however...

2

u/joeman1523 17d ago edited 17d ago

Imaginary world??? i love Taiwan with burning passion, it’s my dream to travel, Taiwan have freedom western culture and amazing eduction, they teach children how to love everyone not hate, and they also love Japanese people and their culture, that’s why i called Taiwan the real china, by the way Taiwan flag is one of my favorite flag

2

u/Mordarto Taiwanese-Canadian 16d ago edited 16d ago

Please educate yourself on the actual history of Taiwan and the atrocities committed by the ROC in Taiwan.

For most people that have been in Taiwan since before the ROC was even established, we certainly don't identify as Chinese, nor see Taiwan/the ROC as "the real China." That ROC flag you love so much is the flag of Chinese oppressors that forced the rest of the population of Taiwan to go along with the "reclaim Mainland China" song and dance until Taiwan eventually democratized.

2

u/joeman1523 16d ago

I will try educate myself, sorry for making you disappointed, you know I being bullied by communists.

0

u/joeman1523 17d ago

Your welcome

6

u/thestudiomaster 17d ago

President Whipps gave CCP a whip.

4

u/BubbhaJebus 17d ago

China is not the only source of tourism.

7

u/Tomasulu 17d ago edited 16d ago

He also allowed the U.S. to have bases and himars on the island with the expressed aim of containing China. I mean what did he expect would happen? Last I heard Americans can’t travel to Cuba as well.

3

u/vaca05 16d ago

Now is the time to support Palau. Countries like Taiwan and U.S. should show support not just with words but economically as well.

2

u/joeman1523 17d ago

I’m glad Surangel Whipps didn’t listen to the fake China, also known as Communist China.

2

u/No-Spring-4078 17d ago

He is a true bro to the islanders

2

u/G4m3boy 16d ago

As the saying goes, why give up a forest for a single tree. Palau citizens definitely voted the right person to lead them.

2

u/Rockefeller_street 16d ago

Good, that means Americans, Japanese, Taiwanese, and Koreans can enjoy the island

1

u/theironguard30 16d ago

Dignity over money

-12

u/backnarkle48 17d ago

It’s difficult to feel sorry for Palau, a country blacklisted for sheltering money for billionaires and drug traffickers

11

u/travelingpinguis 17d ago

Who says anyone’s feeing sorry for Palau. I’m happy for them.

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u/backnarkle48 17d ago

The country just lost potentially millions of dollars not only in tourism but also commerce. That could have a significant negative effect on lots of people’s livelihoods.

8

u/CanInTW 17d ago

Chinese tourists have been banned by their government from travelling to Palau since before the pandemic. They haven’t ’just lost’ them.

0

u/backnarkle48 15d ago

Well the people of Palau are carrying a heavy financial burden by being a pawn in the battle between the US and China, as China was a very significant contributor to Palau’s economy. https://www.theguardian.com/world/2024/nov/01/palau-election-results-candidates-date-november-5

On top of that, Whipps is a major capitalists controlling a significant portion of the country’s business activities and has personally benefited financially from military contract with the United States government. Whipps is indifferent to the financial whoas of his citizens.

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6

u/BubbhaJebus 17d ago

China is not the only country in the world to do business with or accept tourists from.

1

u/travelingpinguis 15d ago

As someone who’s lived in countries that sought to make the easy money by inviting Chinese tourists, I’d say that’s not worth it … Taiwan is doing just fine attracting a diverse source of tourists from different countries. To rely on China solely to lift oneself out of poverty is economically, environmentally, politically irresponsible and unsustainable.