S8 Ep262: US BOLSTERS PACIFIC SOCIETAL RESISTANCE AS CHINA ENTRENCHES IN PALAU AND YAP Colleague Cleo Paskal. Cleo Paskal details the intensifying struggle for influence in Oceania, specifically regarding Palau and Yap, which are vital for defending the corridor be

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John Batchelor

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🗓️ 30 December 2025

⏱️ 27 minutes

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Summary

US BOLSTERS PACIFIC SOCIETAL RESISTANCE AS CHINA ENTRENCHES IN PALAU AND YAPColleague Cleo Paskal. Cleo Paskal details the intensifying struggle for influence in Oceania, specifically regarding Palau and Yap, which are vital for defending the corridor between Hawaii and the Philippines. In Palau, a new comprehensive agreement aims to counter China's "illegal, coercive, aggressive, and deceptive activities" by strengthening the island's law enforcement and healthcare systems to build "societal resistance." This partnership, which notably involves Palau accepting US deportees, represents a strategic shift from purely kinetic defense to political warfare, helping the nation block Chinese organized crime and preserve sovereignty. Conversely, in Yap, despite a new US commitment of nearly $1.5 billion for dual-use infrastructure, Chinese state-linked entities are aggressively embedding themselves. By underbidding on projects like rebuilding a bridge and an Imperial Japanese runway on Woleai, Beijing is effectively subsidizing expansion to gain leverage over local elites during critical access negotiations.

1900 PALAU

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0:00.0	At Pluralsight, we don't just teach skills.
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0:08.6	Lead with confidence, lead with expertise.
0:11.1	Visit us at Pluralsight.com to tap in and learn more.
0:18.1	This is CBSI on the world.
0:20.4	I'm John Batchel.
0:21.3	Chlio Pascala, the Foundation for the Defense of Democracies, reporting on Oceania,
0:27.5	but a particular part of Oceania, between Hawaii and the Philippines and Japan,
0:34.0	there are three states that are very much depending upon the United States to defend them from the soft power aggression of the People's Republic of China.
0:48.2	These three sovereign states right now look to be getting reinforcements a complete surprise to me because
0:57.6	Cleo Pascal has been reporting on them for years to me and we despaired that they didn't need very much
1:04.2	but they did need some attention given the old-fashioned word skullduggery of the PRC agents.
1:12.3	And now, Cleo, this is a surprise to me, a happy ending.
1:16.5	I don't know where to start.
1:18.4	But in any event, this is defense of East Asia, defense of Hawaii, if it was reverse course.
1:26.5	And the peoples in these islands have to be pleased.
1:29.2	What's happened? Good evening to you. Good evening. So this involves some agreement
1:33.5	signed between the United States and the Republic of Palau, which is you mentioned the three
1:38.6	countries that run east to west across the center of the Pacific. Palau is the one on the
1:43.7	far western part of that kind of corridor from Hawaii to the Philippines.
1:48.7	It shares a maritime boundary with the Philippines.
1:51.3	If you know your World War II history, this was the site of the Battle of Pelaloo.
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