Toribiong said no amount of aid or diplomatic arm-twisting could have influenced his decision to accept the inmates. “This wasn’t an obligation; it was an honour,” Toribiong said as he drank a bottle of Perrier a few feet from the crashing surf. “We’re showing that we’re a partner to the U.S. in good times and in bad.

Toribiong said he initially agreed to accept 17 Uighurs but later learned that the US had unexpectedly sent four to Bermuda. He now expects 13 detainees to arrive soon. Once here, they will be put in a halfway house until homes and jobs are found for them—the funds for their relocation will be covered by the US, Toribiong said. He insisted that the arrangement is temporary and will be periodically reviewed.

The people of Palau are already reviewing the arrangement. At a gas station in downtown Koror, a dozen residents sat around plastic tables hashing out the island’s problems. “My question is where are we going to put these people? Are we going to let them roam around?” asked Evans Beches, a former island politician. “And where was the referendum on this?”