Decline Watch: Governor of U.S. territory offers to lease islands to China

Small Pacific islands have something of a track record of selling their allegiance to larger powers, but usually not U.S. territories! The governor of the Northern Mariana Islands, a U.S. territory in the western Pacific Ocean, said he is willing to lease some of the islands to China as long as it’s not for military ...

By , a former associate editor at Foreign Policy.
Koichi Kamoshida Getty Images
Koichi Kamoshida Getty Images
Koichi Kamoshida Getty Images

Small Pacific islands have something of a track record of selling their allegiance to larger powers, but usually not U.S. territories!

Small Pacific islands have something of a track record of selling their allegiance to larger powers, but usually not U.S. territories!

The governor of the Northern Mariana Islands, a U.S. territory in the western Pacific Ocean, said he is willing to lease some of the islands to China as long as it’s not for military purposes.

“If you are interested, I am offering these islands to China,” Governor Benigno Fitial told a group of Chinese governors and provincial Communist Party Secretaries at a conference in Beijing. “Lease these islands so that I can have enough financial resources to provide for more full employment for my people.”

There are 15 islands in the Northern Marianas with a total population of 46,050, the biggest of which is Saipan, according to the CIA World Factbook. There are 10 uninhabited islands available for lease, and he has the right to lease them to “anybody,” Fitial said in an interview after his remarks.

Decline-o-meter: It’s not really clear whether China actually has any interest in these islands, or if Fitial has the right to sell them, but it’s not very encouraging that he’s made the offer. 

 

Joshua Keating was an associate editor at Foreign Policy. Twitter: @joshuakeating

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