China has been accused of bribing officials in a Pacific nation with envelopes of cash, free flights and alcohol in return for providing backing if it invades Taiwan.
The allegations were made in a bombshell letter to the national parliament by the president of Micronesia, a longstanding US ally in the Pacific.
Sitting north of Australia and east of the Philippines, Micronesia forms part of the “second island chain” that US military strategists view as a critical line of defence against Chinese advances across the Pacific.
The letter by David Panuelo, the leader of the Federated States of Micronesia (FSM), describes in extraordinary detail, the openly coercive measures and underhand tactics of “bribery, psychological warfare and blackmail” allegedly used by Beijing to gain a foothold there.
China is pressuring the strategic island chain to align itself with Beijing rather than Washington if it launches an invasion of Taiwan, he said.
“The FSM has a key role to play in either the prevention of such a conflict, or participation in allowing it to occur,” Mr Panuelo explains in the letter, which was first revealed on The Diplomat website.
In one of Mr Panuelo’s most explosive claims, he accuses Chinese officials of trying to undermine his authority by offering payoffs of cash, smartphones, free flights and alcohol to members of his government.
“One of the reasons that China’s Political Warfare is successful in so many arenas is that we are bribed to be complicit, and bribed to be silent,” he writes.
“What else do you call it when an elected official is giving an envelope filled with money after [a] meal at the PRC Embassy or after an inauguration? … What else do you call it when an elected official receives a check for a public project that our National Treasury has no record of and no means of accounting for?”
He cites examples of senior officials being promised private plane rides to any location at any time, “even Hawaii”, adding that state and national politicians have received “offers of gifts as a means to curry favour,” prompting some to act against the national interest.
Mr Panuelo’s refusal to do Beijing’s bidding appears to have been source of frustration for the Chinese.
After they tried to push their Covid-19 vaccines onto the unwilling FSM authorities, the president describes how he and the foreign minister “changed cellphone numbers due to incessant calls” from the Chinese ambassador.
He also faced intimidation. Mr Panuelo alleges that his own safety has also been compromised for not bowing to Beijing’s wishes, describing how he was followed last July during a trip to Fiji by two men from the Chinese embassy, including an intelligence officer.
“To be clear: I have had direct threats against my personal safety from PRC officials acting in an official capacity,” he writes.
Having once enjoyed closer relations with Beijing, Mr Panuelo said he met with Joseph Wu, the Taiwanese foreign minister, in February to discuss the possibility of shifting diplomatic allegiance from China to Taiwan, at a potential cost to Taipei of $50m in financial assistance.
Such a move, or even the discussion, would infuriate the Chinese Communist Party leadership, which claims Taiwan as its own territory, even though it has never ruled there.
The extent of Chinese influence operations in the FSM will also alarm Washington.
The nation of just 100,000 people is closely linked to the US through a treaty known as the Compact of Free Association (COFA), that grants the Pentagon virtually unrestricted military access in exchange for a security guarantee and benefits for citizens.
On Thursday, the Biden administration proposed a blueprint for billions of dollars of funding for the Indo-Pacific region aimed at countering China through infrastructure investments and other support for US partners and allies in the region.
In Beijing, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Mao Ning said she had noted the reports on Mr Panuelo's letter and that "slander and accusations against China are completely inconsistent with the facts".
No matter who is in power, Beijing will uphold the principles of mutual respect, equality and mutual benefit "on the basis of the one-China principle", she added, referring to China's view that both it and Taiwan belong to "one China".
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