Gov. Ralph DLG Torres said the Marianas\u2014the CNMI and Guam\u2014play a critical role in the United States\u2019 strategy in the Asia-Pacific region, especially on the issue of national security.<\/p>\n
And with the growing tension with North Korea, the Marianas could play a vital role in the U.S. government\u2019s plans to protect the mainland from threats that would arise in the region.<\/p>\n
Torres said this was among the issues that were discussed during the 902 talks and then proposed in the report submitted to then-President Barack Obama. The 902 report is now being reviewed by Congress.<\/p>\n
Torres said the U.S. military\u2019s presence in Guam and Japan is why he is not concerned about the growing threat of North Korea. He believes U.S. forces in the region are capable of protecting this side of the border.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe have military forces in Guam and Japan. I know there are also some ships and [aircraft] carriers in the Sea of Japan. That\u2019s why anything that is coming here is being taken cared of by our president, even before it comes close to us,\u201d said Torres.<\/p>\n
North Korea test-fired several ballistic missiles in late April that later failed. It also held its annual military parade displaying new missiles and launchers as a show of strength.<\/p>\n
Torres said he is not that all concerned despite all of what\u2019s going on in Pyongyang. \u201cWe have our military forces and I\u2019m confident in our armed forces, confident in the protection they could give our borders.\u201d<\/p>\n
The 902 report also outlined the Department of Defense\u2019s planned military activities in the CNMI and the U.S. Air Force\u2019s divert airfield and exercises on Tinian.<\/p>\n
Both sides of the 902 panel\u2014the CNMI side and the federal government side\u2014agreed, and recommended, creating a CNMI-DoD Coordinating Council that could ensure diplomatic, economic, and military components in the Asia-Pacific region.<\/p>\n
The U.S. military forces provide security and stability in the Western Pacific region, a key element stated on the 902 report.<\/p>\n
There\u2019s also some tension between the U.S. and China, and further escalation could affect the China parole program\u2014a source of the CNMI\u2019s current tourism market, with visitors accounting for 30 to 40 percent of arrivals.<\/p>\n
China President Xi Jinping has met with his U.S. counterpart, President Donald Trump, last month. The current general secretary of the Communist Party of China and new South Korean leader Moon Jae-In have agreed that their common goal is to stop North Korea\u2019s nuclear ambitions.
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Gov. Ralph DLG Torres said the Marianas\u2014the CNMI and Guam\u2014play a critical role in the…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":48,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[900],"tags":[26,51,200,3916],"class_list":["post-252121","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-featured","tag-cnmi","tag-guam","tag-military","tag-north-korea"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/252121","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/48"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=252121"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/252121\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=252121"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=252121"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=252121"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}