She said the U.S. Congress has imposed a freeze on buildup funds even as Washington refuses to allow Chinese tourists to visit the island visa-free.
“Sen. [John] McCain has declared that the ‘buildup’ is still alive, but now in a ‘pause,’ Guthertz told her fellow Democrat. “Mr. President, you need to know that this ‘pause’ places the economy of Guam in peril.”
The Guam visa waiver program for Russian tourists has been approved, but Guthertz said Chinese tourists will be a major economic boost for the island.
Guthertz told the president that it’s long been rumored that the Pentagon is harboring security concerns about Chinese visitors, but base commanders here — at least publicly — have made no such objections.
“Each and every military installation on our island has individual security — fences topped by barbed wire, berms, roving patrols, and armed sentries at the gates. Surely satellites can reveal anything to the Chinese that they could possibly desire to know about Guam,” she said.
Since Hong Kong visitors already enjoy a visa waiver to visit Guam, Guthertz said if the Chinese were primarily interested in spying, they could easily recruit operatives from this group.
However, no security breaches involving Hong Kong tourists have been experienced to date, she added.
“At this critical time,” Guthertz said, “we need your advocacy as our president in support of the visa-waiver program to enable tourists from China to visit Guam.”
Guthertz said she recently heard that the Pentagon was blocking implementation of the China visa waiver program although a law was passed years ago which states that the intent of the U.S. government is to have a visa-waiver program for Guam and the Commonwealth of the Northern Marianas for Chinese and Russian tourists.
