Toribiong also denied that there was a U.S. offer of up to $200 million in development, budget support and other assistance in exchange for Palau’s accepting the Chinese Muslims.
“This is news to me,” Toribiong told reporters when asked about the AP report that quoted two unnamed U.S. officials.
The president said Palau’s decision was a “humanitarian gesture” and a demonstration of “our commitment to be a partner of the U.S.”
“We took this seemingly radical position at the time the Compact review is ongoing but it is not linked,” he said.
He, however, admitted that Palau’s move will have an impact on the Compact review.
Palau is asking the U.S. to renew the Compact’s financial provisions, which amount to $15 million a year and will expire this October.
Toribiong said in his meeting with Daniel Fried, the U.S. representative, Palau was assured of financial support for the detainees from Guantanamo, but this will not reach $200 million..
The president said the transfer of the detainees to Palau is “not definite yet.”
He said the community was made to understand that the 17 detainees will not be a “security threat to us.”
The 17 were members of a Chinese Muslim group trained by the Taliban in Afghanistan.
The U.S. no longer considers them “enemy combatants,” but it cannot send them back to China for fear that they will be tortured or executed as Islamic separatists.
