Pacific island country of Palau, one of the Taiwan allies in the region, slams China over "interference", recent cyberattacks

Cross posted from: beehaw.org/post/15112440

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Surangel Whipps Jr, President of Palau, a Taiwanese ally, has accused China of interference and criticized Beijing for blocking a travel industry delegation’s visit to Macau, Taiwan News reported. Whipps also accused China over two cyberattacks faced by Palau this year.

In an interview with Nikkei Asia, Whipps said that China was taking its actions against Palau to a “new level.” He further said that a Palauan delegation aimed to participate in an international travel industry conference in Macau in May but was denied visas due to Palau’s diplomatic relationship with Taiwan.

[…]

Whipps said that in March, thousands of government documents were stolen and released on the dark web, with an investigation tracing the suspects back to China.

He added that the second cyberattack in July targeted the country’s customs and border protection system, probably to try and disrupt the country’s tourism industry. He further said that the second cyber incident could not be confirmed as coming from China, but in both instances, ransomware was involved.

Notably, Palau will have presidential and legislative elections in November this year.