Arnold I. Palacios
FOLLOWING a meeting with U.S. military officials on Wednesday, Gov. Arnold I. Palacios defended his policy of pivoting away from Chinese investments.
“I can have a relationship with anybody but if that relationship is not consistent with our national security, then it will be worthless. We are going to be chasing what is not there and so we better be consistent with our policy also,” the governor told reporters after attending a quarterly stakeholders briefing on U.S. military projects in the CNMI at Crowne Plaza Resort’s Hibiscus Hall.
Standing next to him during the interview were Joint Task Force Micronesia Commander Rear Adm. Gregory Huffman, Joint Region Marianas Commander Rear Adm. Brent DeVore and Guam Air National Guard Brig. Gen. Christopher K. Faurot.
Palacios said he has been “taking a lot of heat for doing a pivot,” but “we need to start paying attention to the Department of Defense because they are here to do what we’ve agreed in our Covenant.”
He said, “The world has changed in the Pacific” and this “is not just my pivot, it has happened since the administration of President Obama.”
When the U.S. “pivoted” to the Pacific, the governor said, “the world has changed on us, too.”
He said prior to the Covid-19 pandemic the CNMI had a good economic relationship with China. But when Covid-19 hit the U.S. and the CNMI, he said, “things have changed — the relationship has gone south.”
Today, he added, “we need to look at what we have, work with our federal government and even with our allies. We are part of America. And that’s a fact that we cannot change.”
The governor also quoted Tinian Mayor Edwin P. Aldan, who has said that the island’s economy is “thriving.”
“So what is the industry there? Why is Tinian thriving? It’s because of the [U.S. military] activities, and we hope to continue this [for] 25 to 50 years,” the governor said.
He also said that on Guam, “if you go down Tumon, and you see a lot of people walking around and if you look closely, certainly they are not Japanese [or] Korean tourists. They are service members. They are there to help the economy of Guam. So that is the missing component in the CNMI.”
Guam hosts several key U.S. military installations, including a naval base and an Air Force base.
The governor said he is already getting used to criticisms of his pivot policy, “but at the end of the day, I’m going to tell you, in about two years, this pivot is going to [have] a lot more impact and a lot more benefits for the Commonwealth.”
