Palau President Johnson Toribiong says he will press Australia to take in former Guantanamo detainees from the Chinese Muslim Uighur minority who want to quit their temporary refuge in the Pacific.

Toribiong said on Thursday he would raise the issue of the Uighurs' resettlement during talks with Australian Prime Minister Julia Gillard on the sidelines of next month's Pacific Islands Forum in Vanuatu.

After seven months on Palau, the six Uighurs issued a plea last month to be allowed to move to a permanent home, and Toribiong said he will point out to Gillard that at least one of them has an Australian wife.

"I want to find out the policy and laws of Australia regarding the spouse's status," Toribiong said, adding he will also raise the situation of "those who are interested in joining the Uighur community in Australia".

The placement of the Uighurs from China's remote northwestern region of Xinjiang has been a sensitive issue.

They were detained at Guantanamo Bay after being found in a self-contained camp in Afghanistan when the US-led invasion of the country began in October 2001.

Although cleared of any wrongdoing four years later, they remained in detention until last year when Palau, a former US-administered territory in the Pacific, agreed to provide a temporary home.

The US refused to send them back to China for fear they would be persecuted after Beijing described them as terrorist suspects who should be repatriated.

At least three of the Uighurs have filed applications to move permanently to Australia.

They include Edham Mamet, who recently married a Uighur woman who had been living with her two children in Australia, where her former husband drowned.

In November last year, after the Uighurs arrived in Palau, Toribiong argued that China may have pressured Australia to refuse to take the six men after their release from Guantanamo Bay.

The Australian Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade said it was unable to comment on specific cases but confirmed that China had made representations to Canberra on the issue.

The former prisoners were among 22 Uighurs found in Afghanistan who said they had fled their home region to escape persecution.

© 2010 AFP