Belau (1983: Doomsday)

Belau (formerly Palau) is a Micronesian island group and an associated state of the.

History
Until 1979, Belau was part of the Trust Territory of the Pacific Islands, a vast swathe of ocean administered by the United States of America at the behest of the United Nations. In 1979, the different island groups were granted self-government and set on the path to independence. Four of these (Pohnpei, Kosrae, Chuuk, and Yap) formed the, a federal government to replace the TTPI. Three island groups (Belau, the Marshall Islands, and the Northern Marianas) opted not to join the federation. In 1982 Belau took the next step toward independence by signing a compact of free association with the USA, ending American trusteeship. However, that compact was never ratified. (In OTL it would not be ratified for another eleven years.)

On Doomsday, five nuclear weapons hit targets in the Micronesia region. One hit and wiped out Guam, which had not been part of the TTPI because of its much longer history of US colonization. Three hit American air and missile bases on the sprawling Kwajalein Atoll in the Marshall Islands. The atoll consists of tiny islets stretching out for hundreds of miles, so three missiles were necessary to take out all three bases. A fifth missile landed in the sea near Kwaj; it is believed that it was off target and intended to provide extra assurance that the Kwajalein bases would be destroyed.

Belau was not specifically targeted during the war, but it could not avoid some of its effects. Neither tourism nor foreign investment had played a great role in its economy, which remained mostly devoted to subsistence agriculture and fishing. However, the government had been heavily dependent on American aid. It found itself unable to provide many services to the Belauan people.

The brought back the Trust Territory of the Pacific Islands in 1987 in an attempt to restore some measure of regional government. Relying heavily on aid from New Zealand and Australia, the APA sent military and, far more importantly, humanitarian aid to the Micronesian islands and helped re-stabilize the state governments. Overall, ANZUS aid was well received. Belau, however, whose 1981 constitution had been the first of its kind to establish it as a nuclear free zone, resented the Cold War powers and blamed them for causing the disaster. For that reason, Belau was the only island to remain outside the Federated States of Micronesia after the Mariana and Marshall Islands both joined.

In 1991, Belau and the American Provisional Administration produced a new version of the 1982 Compact of Free Association. This time, it was ratified almost immediately - the only alternative seemed to be joining the Federated States, which most Belauans saw as unacceptably dominated by American interests. It was also at this time that the native form of the country's name, Belau, replaced Palau, the form introduced by Spanish and German colonizers. In 1995, the APA was dissolved into the new Commonwealth of Australia and New Zealand. Belau's status as a freely associated territory of America carried over into the new system. It therefore became one of the first of the Commonwealth's many associated states.

Belau today
As an associated state, Belau relies on the ANZC for its defense. Unlike some of the other states, it has no independent military or militia forces, only a police force for internal security. The ANZC navy has a small base in Belau but is not allowed to keep nuclear vessels there under the Belauan constitution.

Belau does maintain its own foreign policy and is a member of the. They are an extremely unreliable member of the ANZC's voting bloc, and for that reason some South American nations have begun to seek friendly relations with the islands, sensing a weak point in the Ozzie-Kiwi coalition. A Brazilian embassy opened in 2007. However, Belau remains heavily dependent on the ANZC and is loyal to it for most of the big issues, and friction between Belau and Jervis Bay can often be exaggerated.

Since it is located relatively close to both Australia and the Philippines, Belau has been able to attract more tourists than most other island states in the post-DD Pacific. Tourism s a growing spart of the economy, but Belau remains basically poor and dependent on foreign aid.

Despite the lack of money, Belau is emerging as an environmentalist leader. Officially it has no political parties, but the current government has close ties with Green Coalition members in New Zealand an Australia.