Marshall Islands: Chinese couple plotted to establish mini-state in remote Pacific nation

A Chinese couple was arrested and indicted on Friday for what the US Department of Justice (DoJ) described as a "multi-year scheme" to try to, among other things, establish an autonomous mini-state in the Marshall Islands, a former US territory.

Cary Yan, 50, and Gina Zhou, 34, are said by US authorities to have attempted to establish a semi-autonomous region similar to Hong Kong, in the Rongelap Atoll.

They are accused of bribing officials and of working to entice investors to the island in order to set up their own state.

The Marshall Islands are a former US territory that gained independence in 1986 and is known for the Bikini Atoll, a coral reef where the US tested nuclear weapons following World War II. The US still maintains "full authority and responsibility" for the Marshall Islands' defense, per the State Department.

The Rongelap is a scarcely populated atoll which was devastated by the US detonation of a hydrogen bomb in the Pacific in 1954.

Rates of stillbirths and thyroid cancer soared in the region and in 1985, the entire population of Rongelap was evacuated to another island.

The Marshall Islands, a chain of islands located between Hawaii and Australia, gained independence in 1979 after being under US administration for four decades.

It remains a key strategic base for Washington in the Pacific, where the US has some security alliances in place but China is seeking to expand its influence.

China’s government is engaged in a major program of seeking to expand its influence in Pacific island nations as part of a strategy to counter a push by the U.S. and its regional allies.

Cleo Paskal, an Indo-Pacific affairs expert with the Foundation for Defense of Democracies, said China is covertly working in the Marshall Islands.

“Gaining influence, if not control, in the Marshall Islands is very important to Beijing,” she said.

“It is strategically located between Hawaii and Asia, it recognizes Taiwan, and it is in ‘free association’ with the U.S., which means the U.S. is fully responsible for its defense and security.”

The Marshall Islands also host the Ronald Reagan Ballistic Missile Defense Test Site.

Paskal said the Chinese would like to see the Islands’ government switch diplomatic ties to Beijing and distance itself from the United States.

“That would bring China much closer to its goal of isolating Guam, the Marianas, Japan and Korea and pushing the U.S. back to Hawaii,” she added.