Palau Island in the Pacific USA expands base: "I'm afraid of these soldiers"

The island of Peleliu belongs to the Republic of Palau - and has been in Spanish, German, Japanese and American hands over the last 125 years. Now the US military wants to open a base there - which is also frightening.

Palau has a turbulent history. The island state in the Pacific was ruled from Madrid until the American-Spanish War of 1898 led to the German-Spanish Treaty of 1899, in which the German Empire assumed sovereignty over Palau and the Caroline Islands.

The Germans mined phosphate on the island of Peleliu, as did the Japanese, who landed on the island in 1914. In 1944, they fought several bloody battles with the US soldiers, in which 2,000 Americans and 10,000 Japanese were killed. After the Second World War, Washington administered the islands.

Although they have been independent since 1994, they are still associated with the USA: Among other things, they take over the defense and are assured the right for their military to have access to the islands for the next 50 years. Uncle Sam now also wants to make use of this on Peleliu.

"We didn't recognize our island"

However, there are still residents who witnessed the population being evacuated to the neighboring island of Babeldaob in 1944. While thousands died on the side of the warring parties, none of the residents lost their lives.

"We hardly had anything to eat there. We constantly had to hide from American planes that attacked us at low altitude," Dirrakidel Martha Giramur tells the NZZ. "We children cried and begged our parents to return to Peleliu."

The now 93-year-old was shocked when she returned to the completely destroyed island: "We didn't recognize our island. There wasn't a single tree left. Everything was white." She was initially afraid of the Americans: "They were so big, so white. And we didn't understand a word they said."

Skepticism despite money and jobs

Giramur later worked for the US military until they left. And now US soldiers are back: 70 of them have been stationed on Peleliu again for a year - and more are set to follow. They want to make the airfield from the Second World War afloat again: they are clearing, leveling - and also improving public roads.

Nevertheless: "I'm afraid of these soldiers," says Giramur to the NZZ. "Maybe they are preparing another war." She doesn't care that the soldiers bring good money and jobs to the island: She fears a conflict between China and the USA, into which her homeland could be dragged.

In response to NZZ inquiries, the US armed forces assure us that they only want to use Peleliu as an alternative airport. The US military would also expand airstrips on the Pacific islands of Yap in Micronesia and Tinian, which belongs to the Mariana Islands. The heart of the troops beats on the island of Guam, where strong forces from the Navy, Air Force and Marine Corps are based.