Palau’s National Security Coordination Office warned in a report that the Ritzy’s alleged ties to the Prince Group threatened to introduce “illegal gambling and other illicit activities.” The Palauan government put three people associated with the Ritzy on the undesirable-alien list in April. The only Ritzy employee still in Palau is a Chinese project manager named Mu Hongyue.
“A mile would be close enough to launch an unjammable fiber-optic drone or intercept radio communications.”
“You just need to find one or two pilots or navigators who aren’t on the ball and forget to do the right equipment setup and, boom, you’ve got an intelligence coup for your country.”
The Ritzy isn’t the only Chinese development with alleged links to the Prince Group. A project is set to begin in Palau’s north near a US coastal surveillance system, a radar with a 75-mile radius.
In late 2019, not long after he was in discussions with Wan over the land near the TACMOR site in Ngaraard, Seid was approached about an uninhabited islet he co-owned. He took a group of Chinese businessmen led by a “Mr. Chen” — who insisted that he wasn’t to be photographed — to Ngerbelas, where he barbecued freshly speared fish for them. He eventually leased them the island for up to 99 years for $7 million.
The Grand Legend International Asset Management Group is now poised to build a luxury resort on Ngerbelas. Palau corporate records show its largest joint shareholder is Chen Zhi, the Chinese-born naturalized Cambodian citizen who heads the Prince Group.
A document for the resort filed with the Palauan government says that “Grand Legend is a subsidiary of Prince Real Estate Group.” The website for another Prince Group subsidiary featured a map — now removed — showing a project in Ngerbelas.
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