The governments of Taiwan and Palau have both been warned that offers of investment from the Cambodian conglomerate Prince Group represent threats to each nation’s security and sovereignty. Briefings to the president of Palau and Taiwan’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs delivered within the last month by the Hawaii-based think tank Pacific Economics described the Prince Group as being “deeply involved in transnational criminal activity,” citing evidence previously uncovered by RFA and other organizations.
Besides the risk from alleged illicit activity carried out by Prince, which is led by a Chinese national with Cambodian citizenship, its secretive transnational ties could be leveraged as a backdoor for Beijing to exert influence abroad, Pacific Economics suggested.