Palau Island has agreed to accept an American offer to absorb 17 trained Al-Qaeda members in exchange for some US$200 million. According to the AP, Palau Island will accept a group of Chinese Muslims who have been detained for years in Guantanamo Bay.
Palau President Johnson Toribiong said on Wednesday his country will temporarily accept the Chinese in a gesture for the Obama administration.
It should be noted that the Palau island consists of some 200 islands located in the western Pacific Ocean, 650 km southeast of the Philippines. Just less than 10 islands are permanently inhabited.
Mr. Toribiong agreed to Washington's request to accept the Uighurs after talks with U.S. diplomat Daniel Fried, who is leading the U.S. State Department's effort to resettle the Guantanamo detainees. U.S. President Barack Obama has ordered Guantanamo to be shut down by January of next year.
The Bush administration refused to designate the Uighurs as "enemy combatants." It was in late 2008 when a U.S. federal judge ordered the men to be released into the United States. That ruling was eventually overturned by an appeals court.
Palau's minister of state, Sandra Pierantozzi said "If they want to settle in Palau Island we would welcome them," Pierantozzi said. "This is very much in line with the culture of Palau Island, where people who drift in and who needs settlement and place are welcome to our shores and our tradition will take care of them and insert them into our society."
The Uighurs are from China's western Xinjiang province. Beijing has accused the Uighurs, who dominate the province, as separatists who want to create an independent "East Turkestan." Washington is refusing to send the Uighurs back to China, fearing they would be persecuted.
Palau Island, a former U.S. trust territory until achieving independence in 1994, maintains diplomatic relations with Taiwan, China's longtime rival, rather than Beijing. Pierantozzi says her nation is not concerned over China's likely displeasure over the resettlement of the Uighurs.
In 2006, Albania accepted five Uighur detainees from Guantanamo but has since balked at taking others, partly for fear of diplomatic repercussions from China. Palau Island is one of a handful of mainly Pacific island, Latin American and African countries that does not recognize China and maintains diplomatic relations with Taiwan.
The State Department said last week that Daniel Fried, the career diplomat who was named earlier this year by Obama and Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton to oversee Guantanamo’s closure, had visited Palau Island but offered no details on his mission. Fried has been negotiating with third countries to accept many of the Guantanamo detainees.
State Department spokesman P.J. Crowley said Fried had visited Australia and Palau as part of a tour of the Pacific. The three officials said Fried had been discussing the disposition of Uighurs.
Australia has already twice rejected U.S. appeals to resettle the Uighurs, but its foreign minister said late last month it would consider a new request to take in 10 Uighurs. The previous requests were turned down on immigration and security grounds and it is not clear if a new Australian review of the Uighurs would have different results.
Justice Department spokesman Matt Miller declined to comment and an official at the Embassy of Palau in Washington said he had no information about the negotiations.
A former U.S. trust territory in the Pacific, Palau Island has retained close ties with the United States since independence in 1994 when it signed a Free Compact of Association with the United States.
While it is independent, it relies heavily on U.S. aid and is dependent on the United States for its defense. Native-born Palauans are allowed to enter the United States without passports or visas.
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