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<\/p>\nGov. Arnold I. Palacios says his position on China has not changed and he still wants the CNMI to pivot away from its over-reliance on the China market, but that doesn\u2019t mean he is against Chinese tourists visiting the islands.<\/p>\n
Speaking with reporters after MVA\u2019s annual general membership meeting yesterday at the Crowne Plaza Resort Saipan, Palacios said he believes the CNMI is over-reliant on the China market.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe were over-reliant on the market. I\u2019m not saying we aren\u2019t welcoming them, I never said that. We\u2019re just going to pivot away from that, given the reality of the geopolitical [situation] and the politics within our federal government as well as China,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
Addressing Chinese President Xi Jinping\u2019s visit to the United States and his meeting with President Joe Biden, Palacios said the federal government hasn\u2019t really made its position with China clear.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe President of China recently went to the United States to meet with President Biden but what has happened with that. What is the real federal position on this situation? We\u2019ve got to remember that Chinese tourists travel to the States and around the world, but they need to get a visa. We have a unique visa but that is very tenuous. I keep saying that that is a very tenuous visa that can be recalled at the discretion of the secretary of Homeland Security,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
Because the CNMI\u2019s visa waiver program including China could be recalled at any time by the federal government, Palacios said its best for the CNMI to stay out of its radar to avoid a complete collapse of the China market.<\/p>\n
Chinese tourists are able to enter the CNMI via a limited visa waiver program that was granted the CNMI by DHS. Visa waivers are usually granted on a case-by-case basis and at the discretion of DHS.<\/p>\n
Palacios said the CNMI needs to be aware and mindful of what\u2019s going on in this region of the world.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe are a small U.S. territory, very dependent on the China market (which was about 50% of our market). If that collapses, then we still have problems. I\u2019ve been warning that we shouldn\u2019t even be talking too much about this market because the more we talk about it, there\u2019s also that potential of putting us on the radar. We hope things ease up with our federal government and China and that their relationship gets back to normal pre-COVID, but until such time, we\u2019re very vulnerable. It\u2019s a federal policy that can completely pull our visa,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
All that the CNMI can do, Palacios said, is to continue to get new markets to come to the CNMI.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe are not positioning ourselves to make Korea our No. 1 market but it is what it is. We\u2019re trying to get other markets and get the Japan market going. Chinese tourists are still able to come in. In fact, Hong Kong is a visa-free market and Hong Kong Airlines has expressed interest and that is good,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
During a presentation by MVA\u2019s Japan partners in yesterday\u2019s meeting, it was learned that more Chinese tourists than Japanese tourists have been flying to Saipan from Japan in the past few months.<\/p>\n
Private sector stakeholders in the CNMI have been pushing to have the CNMI exempted from the U.S. Department of Transportation\u2019s China Order Part 213, which essentially caps the number of flights from China to the entire United States, including territories.<\/p>\n
Currently the cap is 24 outbound flights from China to the U.S. per month. This means the CNMI is currently competing with destinations like Los Angeles, other mainland states, and Hawaii.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Gov. Arnold I. Palacios<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Gov. Arnold I. Palacios says his position on China has not changed and he still…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-402605","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-local-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/402605","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\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=402605"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/402605\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=402605"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=402605"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=402605"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}