When I was young, I was obsessed with geography. Nauru is one of my favorites, because it has a lovely Chinese name. Its size is very tiny, the third smallest, after Holy See and Monaco. But its citizens are one of the most obese in the world, with 90% of the people heavier than world average and 40% having type II diabetes. Whenever seeing a world map, Nauru is the first place I want to find. But what I couldn’t understand then was politics.
Nauru was rich in phosphate, which, though is not as valuable as oil, can still benefit the small island nations and even made it one of the richest sovereign states during 70’s. But natural resource is always limited. Nauru needs to find a new way to make money, otherwise, it is a country without a future. It virtually becomes a corporation with a good number of employees and a small piece of land.
The government found many ways. First, a tax haven sounds pretty good. But this is illegal and punishable by other states, which means too much risk for Nauru. Then, Nauru started accepting aid from Australia in exchange for housing an illegal migrant detention center. It is not a bad idea, but Australia has moved most of the asylum seekers to its own Christmas Island instead, which can save them a huge amount of aid money.
But the difference between Nauru Inc. and the other corporations is that it can vote in the United Nations. However small it is, its voting power is no smaller than the United States and China in the General Assembly. As a result, its vote is always solicited.
To Nauru’s advantage, there are so many international dispute on sovereignty issues for Nauru to benefit from. China and Taiwan has sent tons of aid to Nauru to earn its diplomatic recognition. It established diplomatic relations with China in 2002 for $130 million, but switched back in merely three years to Taiwan. It is no wonder that a Chinese diplomat lamented “Nauruan government cares too much about its economic interest.”
Last week, Nauruan government recognized the independence of Abkhazia and South Ossetia, breakaway republics in Georgia. It is only the fourth country to do that in the world, after Russia, Nicaragua and Venezuela.
This brought Nauru $50 million aid money from Russia. This is a big money for a country with a size of Nauru, but this is not a sustainable way to make money. Tourism or other services should be the solution, though it still seems a non-starter in Nauru. The natural environment is certainly attractive to the tourists if there is better infrastructure. People there can speak good English, and German and British historic buildings and remains of Japanese occupation still stand on this tiny island, far from any other inhabited islands in Pacific and only miles away from the Equator.
Why the government is still finger-crossing for more political disputes in the world to take advantage of, its president, who used to be a weight-lifting champions in Commonwealth Games, has certainly much to shoulder in order to guide his country to a good future, if any. But his country should also use their diplomatic powers responsibly.
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