SAIPAN (SCMP) — “Sometimes I feel like John the Baptist out in the desert,” Arnold Palacios, the governor of the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands, declared recently in Washington.
Speaking not at a church service but at a think-tank discussion during a recent visit to the U.S capital, Palacios put his pivot away from China in doleful terms that underscore the dire economic times that he is trying to manage back home.
Drawing a parallel with the biblical prophet, the governor of the U.S territory added: “Seriously … that is how lonely it has been for the past nine to 10 months.”
Palacios took office last year, overseeing the U.S territory comprising 14 islands that share a maritime border with Japan in the Western Pacific Ocean. Saipan, its main island, lies about 2,700km (1,600 miles) east of Taiwan.
While the Northern Mariana Islands has a population of fewer than 50,000, it is home to American military bases vital to Washington’s strategic defence posture as Beijing raises its profile in the region.
The archipelago is unique for being the only place administered by the U.S that allows Chinese nationals to enter without a visa for up to 14 days.
The policy was introduced in 2005 to spur the tourism-driven economy. Tensions in the Sino-American relationship could end the waiver as early as September and be replaced by more stringent vetting of Chinese tourists.
To align more closely with U.S President Joe Biden’s stance towards China, Palacios has sought to reduce the territory’s reliance on the world’s second-largest economy.
But his efforts to disengage from Beijing following decades of deep economic ties reveal that the challenges confronting the Northern Mariana Islands mirror those Washington faces as it pushes policies such as “de-risking” and “friendshoring”.
The Northern Mariana Islands, some 6,000 kilometres (3,728 miles) west of Honolulu, began forging ties with Beijing when the U.S and China formally established diplomatic relations in 1979. Several Chinese businesses established garment factories, bringing workers and economic activity.
After China joined the World Trade Organisation in 2001, however, that industry vanished as accession to the body gave the domestic apparel industry preferential tariff treatment. That prompted the territory’s turn to Chinese tourism and related investments that, at first, proved to be a panacea of sorts.
Before the coronavirus pandemic, Chinese nationals accounted for more than 40 percent of all visitors to the Northern Mariana Islands, arriving on multiple direct flights weekly and bringing badly needed support for the local economy.
Last month, more than 1,500 visitors from China arrived in the Northern Mariana Islands compared with just 73 in February last year, according to local authorities. From 28 April, Hong Kong Airlines will commence twice-weekly direct flights from Hong Kong to Saipan.
Yet even though Chinese tourists are now gradually returning to the archipelago after Beijing lifted travel restrictions, Palacios is determined to look elsewhere.
The governor has travelled to Taiwan and Japan seeking visitors. His efforts have yet to yield an infusion of either tourists or investment from places he calls “regional allies”.
The Palacios administration has also acted against some casinos and hotels backed by Chinese investors with charges including visa-waiver abuse, unpaid licence fees, labour violations, missed construction deadlines and unlawful proximity to American military infrastructure…. PACNEWS