Sawt Falasteen - Palau polls open as pro-US president faces election test

The Melanesian microstate of some 20,000 people is one of Taiwan's few remaining diplomatic friends and is seen as a steadfast US supporter in a region where China has made inroads.

In the four years since coming to power, incumbent president Surangel Whipps Jr has overseen the swift expansion of US military interests across the Palauan archipelago.

His sole rival, Tommy Remengesau Jr -- also his brother-in-law -- has cautioned that drawing too close to the US could paint a target on Palau's back.

"Whipps is really supportive of the United States. He's more pro-US than some US presidents," said Pacific watcher Graeme Smith from Australian National University.

"Remengesau is far less pro-US. Although that doesn't mean that he is pro-Beijing either."

Both candidates have expressed support for ongoing diplomatic ties with Taiwan.

A tropical archipelago of limestone islands and coral atolls about 800 kilometres (500 miles) east of the Philippines, the election will in large part be decided far from Palau's shores.

It has been estimated that a substantial chunk of Palau's 16,000 registered voters live overseas, mostly in the United States.

This has seen the two candidates travelling to Hawaiian golf courses, Texas pool halls, and Oregon universities in their efforts to drum up far-flung votes.

An official on Palau's electoral commission said results would be known sometime after November 12, when these absentee ballots start to trickle in.

- Military build-up -

Palau gained independence in 1994 but allows the United States military to use its territory under a longstanding "Compact of Free Association" agreement.

In return, the United States gives Palau hundreds of millions of dollars in budgetary support and assumes responsibility for its national defence.

Whipps has overseen the ongoing construction of a long-range US radar system based in Palau and mooted further buttressing the nation with US-made "Patriot" missile defences.

"I always say that presence is deterrence," the 56-year-old has said.

Whipps has also been a persistent China sceptic, accusing Beijing of meddling in the presidential vote and orchestrating hacks of government computers.

Remengesau, 68, has meanwhile criticised the lack of transparency surrounding these US military deals, cautioning that tiny Palau should not risk China's ire by giving Washington free rein.

His less confrontational foreign policy mantra is that Palau should be an "enemy to none and friends to all".

- A family affair -

Cost-of-living woes firm as the most pressing domestic concern of an exceedingly polite campaign between two candidates related by marriage.

Official data shows the cost of food, alcohol, housing and electricity has surged by more than 15 percent in the past year after Whipps slapped a new tax on goods to replenish government coffers.

Remengesau -- himself a former president -- has pledged to scrap the tax.

Palau's economy has in many ways struggled to recover from an old diplomatic spat with China.

China effectively banned tourists from visiting Palau's pristine beaches and world-famous dive spots in 2017, after then-President Remengesau refused to switch allegiances from Taiwan to Beijing.

Stripped of tens of thousands of Chinese visitors each year, Palau's tourism-reliant economy has struggled to find other sources of jobs and cash.

O.Salim--SF-PST