By Bryan Manabat
Saipan— The first round of the 902 talks between the U.S. government and the CNMI last month ended on a low note. After the two-day initial meeting held at the District Court for the Northern Marianas Islands from Oct. 22-23, the governor’s office announced that more meetings would follow.
“We must emphasize that these discussions will not end today and that we will continue meeting and working with our federal partners after today and work toward an agreement that will be mutually acceptable and mutually beneficial to both the CNMI and federal governments,” CNMI Gov. Arnold Palacios said.
The summit's centerpiece is the U.S. economic assistance sought by the CNMI government to rescue the commonwealth’s struggling economy.
Section 902 of the Covenant provides an avenue for the CNMI and the U.S. to discuss issues and the relations between the two governments. The CNMI government has invoked the 902 formal consultation process several times since the establishment of the commonwealth in political union with the U.S. in 1986.
According to the Department of the Interior, 902 issues that had been discussed in the past included "sovereignty and self-government, Micronesian war claims, submerged land ownership, fisheries, tariffs, immigration and labor issues, essential air service, banking regulations and laws, military activities and the non-voting delegate for the CNMI."
Largely dependent on tourism, the CNMI economy has been struggling to recover from the impact of the Covid-19 pandemic and a series of typhoons.
Palacios earlier said he was hoping to cash in on the military presence. Along with Guam, the CNMI is considered critical to U.S. defense and power projection across the region. The U.S. Department of Defense is investing nearly $1 billion in Tinian to build up security.
In April, Palacios wrote to President Biden, invoking 902 with an agenda that included direct financial assistance to the CNMI, tourism and transportation infrastructure, as well as access to skilled labor.
Biden has designated Carmen Cantor, assistant secretary for the Department of the Interior’s Insular and International Affairs, to head the U.S. team.
On the second day of the talks, Palacios thanked Cantor “for her openness and willingness to focus our dialogues on the urgent undertakings, which are directly in line with the provision of the Covenant [aimed] at achieving a higher progressive standard of living for the people of the commonwealth.”
Cantor, who was named chief of the U.S. 902 panel in July, said her office has received the commonwealth’s position paper regarding economic development assistance, and commended the CNMI panel "for its clarity in discussing the CNMI's fiscal and economic challenges and thoughtful treatment of the opportunity to structure a more sustainable future."
Under the Covenant, the U.S. government pledges “direct multi-year financial support” to the CNMI for local government operations, capital improvement programs and for economic development.”
Section 702 of the pact authorized the appropriation of “guaranteed annual levels of direct grant assistance” to CNMI “for each of the seven fiscal years following the effective date of this section.”
However, a congressional candidate said the White House’s decision to send an assistant secretary “speaks volumes about our relationship— in the manner of how CNMI is being treated.”
Posting her frustrations on Facebook, Kimberlyn King-Hinds noted that leaders of Pacific island nations such as Palau were received at the White House, where they met with top U.S. officials. "If we are truly partners, and not bastard children—which this treatment is— they wouldn’t send Carmen Cantor out here,” the Republican candidate for CNMI delegate wrote. “They didn’t even send the [DOI] secretary.”
Real policy changes and actions require talking to decision-makers, she said.
“This is the thing that frustrates me with our federal relationship, and these are the things that we should focus on changing because this is exactly why we are in this situation today,” King-Hinds said. “We are partners and not subjects of a colony.”
The Northern Marianas became a self-governing commonwealth of the U.S. by virtue of the Covenant that went into effect on Nov. 4, 1986.
King-Hinds also questioned the timing of the meeting. “What do you think is going to be done two weeks before the election?” she asked. “We don’t know who is going to win. We don’t know what the composition of the House is going to be. We don’t know what the composition of the Senate is going to be.”
The last 902 consultation process was held in 2019, during which the negotiating panels discussed "the impact of a possible revocation of the existing parole policy for Chinese nationals would have on the CNMI's access to the Chinese tourist market and how it would imperil the CNMI's economic survival."
The 2019 discussion led to the modification of the existing parole program, reducing the parole period from 45 days to 14 days. The policy change also created the CNMI Economic Vitality & Security Travel Authorization Program, which places a mechanism that ensures Chinese travelers are vetted before arriving in the CNMI.
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