New York, Sep 8 : A Chinese couple had a plan to set up an unofficial state within the Marshall Islands in the Pacific by bribing officials and MPs during the process, US prosecutors said, according to a media report.The couple tried to convince lawmakers to establish an “Semi-Autonomous Region” (SAR) on an atoll that is remote, BBC reported.
A zone like this would have opened up access for foreigners to the Pacific nation which was managed by the US until 1979, according to the report.
The Marshall Islands government is yet to address the allegations fully despite demands from opposition parties.
However, US authorities have said that they believed that the accused – Cary Yan and Gina Zhou have harmed the island nation’s sovereignty.
Their efforts resulted in bills supporting the creation of the SAR being debated in the Marshall Islands’ parliament in 2018 and in 2020, US prosecutors said.
The prosecutors claimed that a number of Marshall Island lawmakers, unidentified in the chargesheet, had voted for the legislation after being bribed with bribes of varying from $7,000-$22,000.
The couple was arrested in Thailand in 2020, and transferred to the US in the last week.
“Yan Zhou’s bribes clearly violated the sovereignty of the Republic of Marshall Islands and its legislature,” said US Attorney Damian Williams for the Southern District of New York, BBC reported.
The Marshall Islands, a chain of islands situated between Hawaii and Australia was declared independent in 1979 after having been under US administration for nearly four decades.
It remains a vital strategic point of reference for Washington in the Pacific and the US has a few security alliances in place, however China is looking to expand its influence.
Prosecutors claimed that the two defendants had an NGO in New York through which they paid for and maintained contact with Marshall Islands officials, BBC reported.
Beginning in 2016 they began to contact island representatives in an effort to establish an SAR for the Rongelap atoll – a region that was that was abandoned following US hydrogen bomb tests in the 1950s.
US authorities claimed Yan and Zhao wanted to “significantly change the laws of the island” in particular, through reducing taxes and easing immigration restrictions, in order to draw foreign investment.
They claimed that the two had dinner and wine with at least six Marshall Island officials and lawmakers in exchange for airfares and hotel rooms in New York as well as in Hong Kong, where officials attended a meeting that promoted the SAR, BBC reported.
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