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When Alson Kelen, a former municipality chief on the Pacific island of Bikini Atoll that was the site of a U.S. hydrogen bomb detonation on March 1, 1954, recalls how his mother used to pine for returning to her homeland, it still brings up strong feelings.
Cary Yan, 51, and Gina Zhou, 35, bribed UN officials in a ploy to transform a Pacific island into a futuristic tax haven - and allegedly advance Chinese influence close to a US military facility.
They come from a low-lying Pacific island nation synonymous with U.S. nuclear weapons testing during the Cold War.
For decades, the tiny Marshall Islands has been a stalwart US ally. Its location in the middle of the Pacific Ocean has made it a key strategic outpost for the US military. However, that loyalty is being tested amid a dispute with Washington over the terms of its “Compact of Free Association” agreement, which expires soon. The US is refusing to engage the Marshallese on claims for environmental and health damage caused by dozens of nuclear tests it carried out in the 1940s and 1950s, including a huge thermonuclear blast on Bikini Atoll. The dispute has some US lawmakers worried that China
China’s Foreign Ministry is offering the Marshall Islands and other Pacific island nations aid under the "One China Principle," in which Taiwan is currently viewed as part of China.