THE United States Indo-Pacific Command on Wednesday said technical meetings were conducted last week between the U.S. Department of Defense and the CNMI regarding the CNMI Joint Military Training, or CJMT.
From July 3 to 7, Maj. Gen. Mark Hashimoto, USINDOPACOM Mobilization Assistant to the Commander, along with members of the INDOPACOM staff, visited the Commonwealth.
During this visit, they toured various historic sites on Saipan and Tinian, guided by historian Don Farrell.
Farrell, in a separate interview, said he gave a battlefield tour to Hashimoto on July 5 to familiarize him with the historic battle sites on Tinian, as well as boundaries of the North Field Historic Landmark, and the boundary between the Leaseback area and the exclusive military use zone.
During this visit, Hashimoto also met with Tinian officials “to reconnect after an 18-month Covid-driven hiatus and discuss various Department of Defense initiatives in the CNMI.”
The trip concluded with a regularly scheduled senior stakeholder meeting led by Gov. Ralph DLG Torres and Hashimoto, along with the start of the CJMT technical meetings during which DoD and CNMI representatives exchanged information that will be used to support future collaboration.
“We would like to thank the people of [the] CNMI and the Commonwealth Healthcare Corp. for the warm hospitality and the opportunity to resume face-to-face information sharing,” Major General Hashimoto said.
“We acknowledge that as we progress in our discussions there might be differences in opinions, and may we quickly and respectfully work them out within the spirit of what is right.”
USINDOPACOM “remains committed to the security and stability of the region and remains postured and ready to ensure a Free and Open Indo-Pacific.”
Mark Hashimoto
