Do the new geopolitical relationships which have evolved around the
Pacific rim since 1976 between the United States and other countries still
exercise the same degree of influence  on the political relationship with
the Northern Marianas  today as in the previous period of the Trust
Territory administration? A brief review of the past is necessary to place
the question in perspective.
      At the end of World War II there were eleven United Nation
trusteeships that evolved from the flames of the holocaust. Ten of these
possessions of former adversaries of the Allied powers were administered
through the United Nations General Assembly. Only the islands of
Micronesia, of which the Northern Marianas was a part, were considered a
strategic trust and  placed under the administration of the U. N. Security
Council where the United States had veto power. Before exploring this
question it is necessary to look back in time to a period just after the
conclusion of hostilities. Those were the days before widespread use of
commercial jet aircraft when travel from Hawaii to Saipan required many
exhausting hours. In the early fifties a flight from Honolulu to Wake
Island took about nine and one half hours from Wake to Saipan was still
eight hours further. To consider the islands as being isolated in those
days would be an understatement.
    The  appeal of the islands of Micronesia was to military planners and
political strategists. Long  before the  flames of World War II engulfed
the world, the use of a nation's resources was directly affected by its
trading opportunities. With few exceptions among the great trading nations
of the world, the full benefit of possessing exploitable resources or
colonies only came with transport across the oceans.
       Sea routes are valuable national assets and the power to control or
influence these traffic lanes is a matter of importance to all nations
which border the sea.  The ocean, and today the air, are avenues of
commerce -- lifelines to carry a nation's industrial blood, whether it be
raw materials or its processed products to world markets.
       It was opportunities for commerce that first opened the vast expanse
of the Pacific.  Later sea power was brought to bear to protect these trade
routes. All navies depend upon bases of fixed facilities for replenishing,
repairing and refueling their vessels and the islands in the Pacific have
frequently played a major role. To keep such bases operational a navy must
strive defensively to maintain control of those sea lanes leading to its
base of operations and keep them open.
       To wage offensive warfare a navy must have sufficient power to close
off the trade routes of any adversary. These units must have a secure base
preferably near or within the sea lanes they are to protect. Before the
Second World War both the United States and the Japanese appreciated this
concept very well.
       It is because of geography that the Pacific Islands have always
figured prominently and importantly in the affairs of western hemispheric
nations in a measure far beyond  their size and resources would seem to
warrant. It is frequently because of an isolated but strategic location
that some islands are considered to be of military and political importance
far in excess of their economic value. Indeed, those islands situated
relatively near the coastline of continents make ideal bases for extending
the national will of one country over another.  Rarely do such islands owe
any allegiance to the country which controls the nearby mainland. Guam is a
classic example. Not only is it relatively near the Asian continent but
from the time the Japanese moved in to control the Nanyo (Mandated Islands)
it was an American enclave within a Japanese military and economic sphere
-- a virtual thorn in the side of the Japanese military planners. Islands
most prized by the military are frequently those which can provide a navy
with a protected deep water anchorage.
       In former times islands served as coaling stations, relay stations
for transoceanic cables, locations for radio transmitters, etc. Today they
are sites for radar, earth satellite communication systems and fueling
stops for the jet "clippers" of the skies, which more often than not  land
on air strips which were first constructed to service the military.
       Extreme geographic, cultural, historical, economic and political
contrasts face each other across the Pacific Ocean. The oldest civilization
on earth faces the youngest. The most overpopulated continent lies opposite
the most sparsely populated. The richest country is in stark contrast with
some of the poorest. The most modernized and industrially advanced nation
faces some of the most technologically backward. The nation with the
highest standard of living stands in contrast to a continent with the
lowest. But this is changing rapidly.
       The Pacific is the ocean where east meets west -- ancient
civilizations with cultural and ancestral stability and with reverence for
the past are juxtaposed with the restlessness of the West and its obsession
with the future. So it was in the early forties and so it remains today.
As the strategy of the Pacific is examined it becomes abundantly clear why
Guam, Saipan and Tinian are so important to the United States.
       Before the war the Japanese developed the economies of the mandated
islands to the extent possible. After the war  the United States elected to
wait until the Micronesians themselves were the rulers of their own economy
and America  adopted a policy of providing funds for public works projects
which ironically, to date, benefit Japanese investors and at some future
date possibly the U. S. military. Curiously, the islands were never
administered by the U. S. Department of State which carries out  America's
foreign policy since to do so would be tantamount to admitting they were
"foreign." Instead, the newly "associated"  Pacific islands were, for a
period, administered  by the United States Navy until June 30, 1951 after
which responsibility passed to the Department of the Interior, Office of
Territorial and International Affairs where many United States domestic
policies and programs could be applied regardless whether they were
appropriate for Pacific societies and, indeed, many were not - but others
were quite beneficial.
      Eventually the people of Micronesia ( including the Marianas) were
encouraged to choose their future political status from three options.
These included selecting independence or becoming  affiliated with the
United States, either through a relationship of free association or a
commonwealth status based upon a negotiated agreement which later became
known as the Covenant.The Covenant describes the relationship agreed upon
between the people of the Northern Marianas and the United States
Government.
       No other United States territory or insular possession has a similar
relationship. Alaska, Hawaii, Puerto Rico, the Virgin Islands, American
Samoa, Guam and other Pacific possessions were all acquired under
circumstances far different than that of the Northern Marianas. This unique
relationship between the United States Government and the Commonwealth
stems  from the fact that the islands were never recognized as a permanent
possession of any nation since they were taken from defeated Germany by the
Allied Powers during World War One. Subsequently assigned to Japan under a
mandate from the League of Nations, the status of the  islands did not
change after they were occupied  by  United States armed forces in 1944.
Indeed, since their purchase by Germany from Spain in 1899, and their
assignment to Japan for administration in 1920 by the League of Nations,
the Northern Marianas had no political identity among the countries of the
world. From the time of  Germany's loss of the islands they were never
regarded as a permanent colony within the exclusive sovereignty of any
nation, except, of course, by Japan when it left the League  before the
outbreak of World War II.
       For a nation to acquire additional territory a government must
either annex an area by force of arms or by purchase from a sovereign
government.The Northern Marianas was not a permanent legal possession of
Japan at the time of the war  as it had only been entrusted to Japan under
a mandate by a group of countries through their organization - the League
of Nations. Therefore, the United States could not strip territory from
defeated Japan at the conclusion of hostilities since the islands were
never recognized as a permanent legal possession of Japan in the first
place.
       After the war the Northern Mariana Islands were sealed off to all
but the military in order to provide a location for clandestine activities
undertaken by the Central Intelligence Agency under the auspices of the
Naval Tactical Training Unit, (NTTU). Not much is known about the secret
facility which had been established on Saipan to train certain individuals
in insurgency for possible future interdiction into Communist southeast
Asia and elsewhere. The island was militarily sealed off and only certain
U. S. government personnel were permitted to enter and leave Saipan. The
local people did not enjoy much freedom of movement and were confined  to
Saipan and Guam which was also closed to everyone except military
personnel.
    Once the training facility on Saipan was abandoned in the 60’s the
island became the headquarters of the Trust Territory Government from which
all the islands of Micronesia, formerly the Japanese Mandated Islands, were
administered. During this period and until 1973 it was the policy of the
United States Government, as the administering authority, to continue
exercising unusual influence over the development of the islands and its
people. American policy was exercised on the basis of the ''most favored
nation" clause within Article 8 (1) of the Trusteeship Agreement For The
Former Japanese Mandated Islands. From 1947 until 1973 this policy
prohibited non American investment and was referred to as the "denial
principle."  The United States Government was not particularly interested
in the islands- except for Saipan and its training base for Central
Intelligence Agency covert operations and did not wish to encourage
investment from the nationals of other countries. The administering
authority interpreted Article 8  in such a manner to be an effective tool
to prohibit foreign investment. This had the effect of keeping the economy
of the  islands in an undeveloped state.
     Meanwhile, the Congress of Micronesia, a representative body whose
creation was sanctioned by the High Commissioner of the Trust Territory,
entered into negations with the United States Government for a change in
political status. Representatives of the Congress of Micronesia approached
the High Commissioner and pointed out that the people who would eventually
vote in a plebiscite were not aware of the ramifications of the issues
involved within the various political choices and requested that a program
be undertaken to acquaint them with the intricacies of the various
political alternatives. The result was a Micronesian wide effort known as
Education For Self Government (ESG). I think Sam McPhetres and myself are
the only non indigenous people still around who were involved in the
program although at the time many  participated including Chamorro and
Carolinian advisors. It was during this program that the United States
“caved in” and assented to the demands of the Soviet Union’s representative
on the United Nations Security Council to remove all materials and withhold
all information which could be construed as encouraging democratic
principles or advocating any form of relationship with the United States.
Thus, programs in the public schools teaching the concept of civics, Alexis
de Tocqueville’s Principles of Democracy and other works were withdrawn
from the program without a whimper in deference to the Soviet Union’s
communist  representative.
       If some people within the Northern Marianas seem be unfamiliar with
the obligations and responsibilities that are inherent in U. S.
citizenship, an honor bestowed upon the those islanders that qualified by
Presidential Order, it  should be kept in mind that at the time the people
of the Northern Marianas, unlike other nationalities seeking U. S.
citizenship, were not required to possess any knowledge of American history
or the principles of democracy as most Americans perceive them to be.
Normally immigrants seeking U. S. citizenship must study a variety of
subjects related to American history, pass an examination and swear an oath
of allegiance to the Constitution.  This was not required of the people of
the Northern Marianas.  Nor, during the period the Trust Territory
Government conducted educational programs for self government, was civics
and the duties of citizenship taught in the public schools.  To have done
so during this period of the early seventies when political preferences
were being explored -  and to have openly advocated U. S. Commonwealth
status from among the other remaining options available to the people of
the Northern Marianas would have raised the ire of the  French and Soviet
delegates on the United Nations Security Council and precipitate a charge
of colonialism against the United States.  The political education program
had to be impartial - and it was.
     The United States assured the Security Council that it would conduct
political status negotiations with the Trust Territory as a whole and would
not attempt to fragment the area. This policy was later abandon by the
United States and the Marianas Political Status Commission was created to
negotiate separately with the United States. This eventually  lead to  a
plebiscite when the people of the Northern Marianas by 78.8 percent of the
votes cast on June 17, 1975 elected to accept a negotiated Covenant with
the United States. This became U.S. Public Law 94-241 when enacted by the
United States Congress and became effective on April 1, 1976, a little more
than 30 years after the end of World War II. The people of the islands, of
their own free will, desire and volition found their  own way toward a
close affiliation under the American Flag. Of all the entities within the
former Japanese Mandated Islands they were the only people to seek and
obtain such a close political relationship with the United States.
     Upon the breakup of the Soviet Union and after the United States
closed it bases in the Philippines several years ago, the Mariana Islands
of Guam, Tinian and Saipan also experienced a reduced importance to
American strategic requirements in the western Pacific. However, it is
still a result of their geographic location in proximity to the Asian
Continent as well as the Great Circle Sailing Routes (shortest distance)
between the United States and the Philippines, the Strait of Malacca at
Singapore and the Lombok Straits in Indonesia that the United States is
expected to continue to exhibit  interest, albeit at a reduced level, in
the area far into the twenty-first century. The Malacca and Lombok Straits
are the passages through which super tankers and their vital cargo  of oil
from the Middle East must travel enroute to the United States west coast
and the ports of its Japanese ally and trading partner.
       The Mariana Islands are geographically situated so as to be the
farthest United States possessions in the Pacific west of Hawaii. Situated
in a universe of water, the Marianas archipelago are the farthest stars out
in the American galaxy. As a contingency the United States military has
leased a portion of Tinian, (originally 17,799 acres of which 12,000 acres
have been leased back to the CNMI ). Several U.S. military supply vessels
are already based in Commonwealth waters.
       Today the islands may  have lost much of their strategic appeal as
geographic assets. Not only is the land area available for military use
limited, but a  diminished threat from the former Soviet Union (now the
Commonwealth of Independent States) and the modern technology of weapon
systems has certainly reduced the strategic importance of the islands.
       At the end of World War II and during - and after - the Korean
conflict and the Vietnam War, the United States was preoccupied in
southeast and northeast Asia with a policy designed to contain the Soviet
Union and communism. Japan was ideally situated geographically to
facilitate  the effort with the result that the United States greatly
assisted in the economic  recovery of its former adversary after the
devastation of the Pacific war with the result that, within the span of
less that four decades, Japan  became one of the strongest economies in the
world.
       After World War II and the emergence of the Soviet Union on the
world economic scene  along with the threat of communism, the United
States, in an attempt to offer the developing nations of the world an
alternative to this economic philosophy, opened its vast markets to
industries in Asia. This was an "economic carrot" offered as an alternative
to communism and  aided in the building of an alliance against the Soviet
Union. In so doing some of  the United States domestic industries started
their long decline. Who, for example in 1950, could possibly imagine that
American automobile manufacturers would lose out on their own home
territory. But this is what has happened along with steel, shipbuilding and
a myriad of other industries. If it continues  one must wonder what the
American worker will produce in the year 2000 to earn the money to continue
to represent a substantial export market for the growing quantity of Asian
manufactured items of high quality. With the collapse of the Soviet Union
and the current strong economies of Korea, Taiwan, Japan and others the
United States no longer has to offer the "carrot" of free market access or
low tariffs on the American side of the Pacific.
       With the breakup of the Soviet Union in 1991,  America found itself
with no real military threat in the western Pacific and Japan's geographic
location no longer as important in containing Soviet expansion in east
Asia. This was the principal reason for United States reconstructing
Japan's economy after World War II - to make the nation a bulwark against
communism. With the end of the Cold War and the breakup of the Soviet Union
the United States is left without  a military challenge in the region but
finds itself faced with an economic threat from Japan, a country which is
weak militarily but one of the most wealthy nations in the world.This is a
nation consisting of  a group of small, crowded  islands in comparison to
the entire American continent and, in contrast to North America, a country
totally dependent upon overseas  trade to sustain its economy.
       Geopolitics in the western Pacific will continue to be influenced by
the United States with Japan and China increasingly  becoming major
players. With the second largest economy in the world, Japan must import
all its raw material and export its finished manufactured goods to markets
throughout the world. The highways for this commerce are the sea lanes of
all the world's oceans.
The Marianas archipelago sits astride many of these major ocean routes and
is the closest American soil to the continent of Asia. For this reason
alone the area is a valuable national asset.
      The center of gravity for world trade has shifted over the past
twenty five years to the vast markets of Asia. Since the conclusion of
World War II the United States has maintained economic supremacy in the
world but today that position is being seriously challenged by Japan and,
to a lesser extent, several other Asian countries around the Pacific rim.
The Mariana Islands, America's most western affiliated archipelago and  the
closest American jurisdiction to Japan and China, provides an ideal
location for United States  firms interested in serving Asian countries
from a U. S. base of operations in proximity to the markets of the Far
East. Serious consideration should by given by mainland American businesses
to the geographic advantages, political stability and other amenities
provided by the Commonwealth.
    The Commonwealth's proximity to Asia places it within reasonable
distances to 1.4 billion people of Pacific rim Asian countries with a
combined gross domestic product equal to $2.9 trillion dollars. China alone
has a population of of 1.2 billion people and a fast developing economy.
    In terms of marine resources the Pacific Ocean yields about 65 percent
of the world's annual supply of tuna.  About 50 percent of the Pacific
catch comes from  the western Pacific. The waters around the Northern
Marianas chain abound with pelagic species of jacks, mahi mahi, marlin,
skipjack, tuna, yellowfin and wahoo. The exclusive economic zone
surrounding the Northern Mariana Islands covers 99.9 percent of the CNMI'S
total area of approximately 264,000 square miles.  The area is a unique
body of water with a most unusual seabed.  It contains the Marianas Trench,
the greatest ocean depth on the face of the earth, and an active submerged
volcanic system.  These factors contribute to rich mineral resource
potential.
    Returning to to question,  “if the United States had it to do over -
would it offer Commonwealth status to the Northern Marianas?” You, the
reader decide.

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