Palauans visit US aircraft carrier, reiterate ties

Palau's leaders got a close look Sunday at one of the world's largest warships and said it convinced them of the importance of close U.S. ties for the tiny Pacific nation recently thrust into the global spotlight for agreeing to accept 13 Guantanamo Bay detainees.

"It's a symbol of the United States' might," Palau President Johnson Toribiong said of the U.S. nuclear-powered carrier after his five-hour visit. "We want to make the United States a close and special partner, because I think that with the U.S., Palau - a small island nation - can advance its living standards and its status in the community of nations."

Vice President Kerai Mariur joined the group that flew to the USS George Washington as it passed about 100 miles (160 kilometers) north of Palau, one of the world's smallest countries.

He said he had no qualms about welcoming the 13 Turkic Muslim detainees, known as Uighurs, as part of President Barack Obama's plans to close the U.S. Navy's Guantanamo Bay detention center in Cuba.

"We know that the U.S. is responsible for the security of Palau," Mariur said. "So they will not send criminals here."

The Uighurs (pronounced WEE'-gurs), from China's far western region of Xinjiang, were captured in Afghanistan and Pakistan in 2001, but the Pentagon has since determined they were not "enemy combatants."

Four other Uighurs were resettled in Bermuda earlier this month.

Toribiong has described the decision to resettle the Uighurs as a humanitarian gesture and a token of friendship with the United States.

Palau's agreement to accept them coincides with the start of talks to review the Compact of Free Association, which governs its relationship with the U.S. Under the accord, Washington's aid to Palau from 1995 to 2009 is expected to exceed $852 million, according to a report last year by the U.S. Government Accountability Office.

The U.S. is also charged with protecting Palau, and in return the island nation has long sent many of its own to the U.S. armed forces.

The U.S. military does not release specific numbers on how many Palauans are currently serving, but locals regularly claim that that per capita, Palau contributes more personnel to the military than the U.S.

On Tuesday, the country mourned the recent death of Jasper Obakrairur, a 26-year-old U.S. Army sergeant and the first Palauan killed in Afghanistan. For a country of just 20,000, the casualty represented a national tragedy - a fact repeatedly acknowledged Sunday by crew members of the USS George Washington.

"Our condolences for your recent loss," Rear Adm. Kevin Donegan said to the Palauan officials.

The visit to the carrier reminded Reklai Bao Ngirmang, one of Palau's top two traditional chiefs who serves as an adviser to the president, of his own past as a Vietnam vet and a nearly three-decade career in the Marine Corps.

"I miss it," Ngirmang, 76, said.

Watching the F-18s landing in front of him, he peppered nearby crew members with questions and marveled at the precision of the operation.

"Everyone knows their job, and it's all perfectly coordinated," Ngirmang said. "Beautiful."

The George Washington is the crown jewel of the U.S. 7th Fleet based at Yokosuka Naval Base near Tokyo. It spends about half the year at sea.