Roughly 40 miles south of Malakal Harbor sits the island of Angaur. It, too, is in the middle of an American military upgrade. It, too, has been the focus of Chinese interest.
The US military has spent the past two years and $100 million clearing 100 acres here for a receiver for its Tactical Multi-Mission Over the Horizon Radar, or TACMOR. The system, which requires transmitter and receiver stations at least 50 miles apart, will enable the US to detect Chinese hypersonic missiles or airplanes that might target US forces in the Second Island Chain to prevent them from aiding Taiwan.
In 2010, Palau’s government publicly urged the US, which was relocating Marines from 
Okinawa, to move them to Angaur. Soon after, Chinese investors started expressing interest in the remote island.
Land records show that in 2014, Tian Hang (田行), a longtime 
resident in Palau known here as Hunter Tian, signed contracts with four family groups to lease about 250 acres of land, including near Angaur’s airstrip and port, for what he said would be a resort.
Tian is the president of the Palau Overseas Chinese Federation, which functions as part of the CCP’s United Front Work Department promoting state objectives and whose members have given illegal campaign contributions to pro-China politicians in Palau. None has been charged.
The US and Palau announced the plan for the TACMOR system in mid-2017. A few months later, Tian took prominent Palauans including former president Johnson Toribiong to China to meet with officials. Tian also launched a China-Palau trade organization and an ill-fated media organization in Palau with ties to security services.
In 2018, Tian’s deputy in the federation introduced Palau’s then president, Tommy Remengesau Jr, to Wan Kuok Koi, a Macao mob boss known as “Broken Tooth” who served 14 years in prison in Macao for illegal gambling, loan-sharking and attempted murder. It became clear in 2019 when Wan boasted in Hong Kong media of his plans for a Palau casino resort — located in Angaur, it was later revealed — where he would control “customs, ports and an airport.” Remengesau responded by banning foreigners with criminal histories from coming to Palau. The US Treasury later imposed sanctions on Wan.
Wan was also interested in leasing land next to a second TACMOR site, a transmitter 60 miles north of Angaur in Palau’s Ngaraard state.
Alan Seid, a prominent Palau businessman, signed a MOU to lease to Wan a plot of land across the road from the Ngaraard transmitter site. Wan promised to pay as much as $15 million but never delivered.
It was “suspect” that Wan, who had been honored by Beijing for his patriotism, had explored leasing land near both TACMOR locations. “When you begin to see the connections, then you begin to wonder how can the Chinese government say they’re not working with organized crime.”
Beijing selectively uses organized crime groups to further its objectives overseas.
“It works for Beijing in two ways. They can export their criminal problem, but then they also turn that criminal problem into their front line of influence, basically just to sow corruption and to erode governance in these small island states.”
Tian’s Angaur leases have expired, and Wan’s plan for both TACMOR sites ended when he had to leave the country. But the transmitter site in Ngaraard state, where work awaits an environmental permit, could soon be overlooked by a 275-room Chinese resort.
Tian Shuchun (no relation to Hunter Tian) leased 60 acres here in 2015, two years before the TACMOR announcement. But it wasn’t until late 2023, shortly after the US military held its first public meetings on the radar, that he registered plans to build the Palau International Grand Hotel. His company, Great Wall Garments, a women’s clothing manufacturer in Tianjin, near Beijing, has branched out into “high-end hotel resorts” in China, Vietnam, Uzbekistan and Palau.
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Okinawa, to move them to Angaur. Soon after, Chinese investors started expressing interest in the remote island.
Land records show that in 2014, Tian Hang (田行), a longtime resident in Palau known here as Hunter Tian, signed contracts with four family groups to lease about 250 acres of land, including near Angaur’s airstrip and port, for what he said would be a resort.
Tian is the president of the Palau Overseas Chinese Federation, which functions as part of the CCP’s United Front Work Department promoting state objectives and whose members have given illegal campaign contributions to pro-China politicians in Palau. None has been charged.
The US and Palau announced the plan for the TACMOR system in mid-2017. A few months later, Tian took prominent Palauans including former president Johnson Toribiong to China to meet with officials. Tian also launched a China-Palau trade organization and an ill-fated media organization in Palau with ties to security services.
In 2018, Tian’s deputy in the federation introduced Palau’s then president, Tommy Remengesau Jr, to Wan Kuok Koi, a Macao mob boss known as “Broken Tooth” who served 14 years in prison in Macao for illegal gambling, loan-sharking and attempted murder. It became clear in 2019 when Wan boasted in Hong Kong media of his plans for a Palau casino resort — located in Angaur, it was later revealed — where he would control “customs, ports and an airport.” Remengesau responded by banning foreigners with criminal histories from coming to Palau. The US Treasury later imposed sanctions on Wan.
Wan was also interested in leasing land next to a second TACMOR site, a transmitter 60 miles north of Angaur in Palau’s Ngaraard state.
Alan Seid, a prominent Palau businessman, signed a MOU to lease to Wan a plot of land across the road from the Ngaraard transmitter site. Wan promised to pay as much as $15 million but never delivered.
It was “suspect” that Wan, who had been honored by Beijing for his patriotism, had explored leasing land near both TACMOR locations. “When you begin to see the connections, then you begin to wonder how can the Chinese government say they’re not working with organized crime.”
Beijing selectively uses organized crime groups to further its objectives overseas.
“It works for Beijing in two ways. They can export their criminal problem, but then they also turn that criminal problem into their front line of influence, basically just to sow corruption and to erode governance in these small island states.”
Tian’s Angaur leases have expired, and Wan’s plan for both TACMOR sites ended when he had to leave the country. But the transmitter site in Ngaraard state, where work awaits an environmental permit, could soon be overlooked by a 275-room Chinese resort.
Tian Shuchun (no relation to Hunter Tian) leased 60 acres here in 2015, two years before the TACMOR announcement. But it wasn’t until late 2023, shortly after the US military held its first public meetings on the radar, that he registered plans to build the Palau International Grand Hotel. His company, Great Wall Garments, a women’s clothing manufacturer in Tianjin, near Beijing, has branched out into “high-end hotel resorts” in China, Vietnam, Uzbekistan and Palau.
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