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AT INDO-PACIFIC TASK FORCE’S INAUGURAL MEETING
Kilili underscores importance of renewing Compacts
Delegate Aumua Amata Radewagen (R-A. Samoa) and Delegate Gregorio Kilili C. Sablan (D-MP) flank Delegate Jim Moylan (R-Guam). (CONTRIBUTED PHOTO)
The U.S. House of Representatives Committee on Natural Resources’ Indo-Pacific Task Force that is co-chaired by Delegate Gregorio Kilili C. Sablan (D-MP) and Rep. Amata Radewagen (R-American Samoa) talked about the importance of renewing the Compacts of Free Association with the CNMI’s neighboring island nations of Palau, the Marshall Islands, and Micronesia during their inaugural meeting Wednesday.
In his opening statement at the meeting, Sablan stressed the need to respect the CNMI’s relationships with these Freely Associated States by renewing—and increasing—the financial provisions of the current Compacts.
The delegate stated in his e-kilili newsletter over the weekend that these Compacts agreements give the United States responsibility for the defense of the Freely Associated States and exclusive access to strategically important areas of the Pacific.
“We must, however, nurture the relationship with our Pacific ally neighbors, never take them for granted, by swiftly passing the Compact renewal agreements as they are transmitted to Congress by the administration,” Sablan said.
The bipartisan Indo-Pacific Task Force was recently formed to combat the rising influence of the People’s Republic of China in the U.S. territories and Freely Associated States in the Indo-Pacific region.
U.S. territories in the Pacific are the CNMI, Guam, and American Samoa. Freely Associated States refer to the Republic of Palau, the Republic of the Marshall Islands, and the Federated States of Micronesia.
The Compact Agreements refer to the treatises the United States signed with the Freely Associated States, which grants the U.S. certain privileges and access to these countries, in exchange for defense arrangements, among others benefits.
