The Geo-Political History Of The Common Wealth Of Northern Mariana Islands

The Common Wealth of Northern Mariana Islands (CMNI) is a chain of islands located in the Pacific Ocean; they are located south of Japan and east of the Philippine Islands. The islands were first settled by the Chamorro people, the native people of Guam, around 1500 BC. Ferdinand Magellan later discovered the chain of islands in 1521. He named the islands Islas de los Ladrones (Islands of Thieves). The Spanish priest Luis Diego San Vitores in 1668 renamed the islands, Las Marianas to honor the Spanish queen Maria Ana. He established a mission and tried to convert the native people to Catholicism. To help with the conversion efforts, Spanish troops moved thousands of Chamorro to the island of Guam. Spain ruled the islands for about 300 years until the Spanish - American War. Spain gave Guam to the United States after the war[1].

The Northern Marianna Islands were sold to Germany in 1899. Germany was looking to expand their empire and the island's location in the Pacific was ideal for. After WWI the League of Nations gave Japan control over the islands. Japan used the islands for sugar cane production. They were so successful that sugar cane accounted for "60% of all revenues in Micronesia". Many Japanese immigrated to the islands because of the economic success. Because of its close proximity to Japan and its large Japanese population, the Islands were an ideal place for the Americans to invade during WWII.

In 1944 US troops took over the island of Saipan, while they attacked the nearby Japanese Naval Fleet. The islands were brought under US Navy control for the remainder of WWII. This was a turning point in the war, Japan based most of their strategies around the islands and after they were gone, the Japanese began to lose hope. After WWII the United Nations formed the Trust Territory of the Pacific Islands (TTPI), which included the Northern Mariana Islands. The islands were placed under the United States control. A vote passed in June of 1975 for the islands to be separated from the trust. The US Congress and Mariana Islanders worked together to form the Covenant to Establish a Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands (CNMI) in Political Union with the United States. US President Carter approved their constitution in October 1977 and finally in Jan of 1978 the Common wealth of Northern Mariana Islands became internally self governing territory of the United States[2].

Size and Shape

The CNMI is a fragmented state. There are 14 small islands, excluding Guam that makes up this island chain. The total land area of all the islands combined only amounts to 477 sq km, it's approximately 2.5 times the size of Washington D.C. . Only 6 of the 14 islands are inhabited by humans. The other islands are kept as nature reserves. The most largely populated islands are Saipan, Tainan, and Rota[3]. Because the islands are so far away from the United States, it's hard to monitor the islands, so they can do just about anything they want.

The CMNI has a great strategic advantage because of it's location in the Northern Pacific Islands. The American's found it necessary to take the islands over so that they could adequately fight the Japanese in WWII. Japan had heavily fortified the island of Saipan , so that they could use it as a major base in WWII. Saipan is only 3, 300 miles from Honolulu, Hawaii and 1, 272 miles from Tokyo, Japan. The planes that were used to drop the bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki were based on island of Tainan.

System of Governance

The commonwealth is ruled by a locally elected a Governor and Lieutenant Governor along with a Senate and House of Representatives. There are 9 senators that are elected for a 4 year term and 18 Representatives of the House who are elected to a two year term. Any citizen 18 or older can vote in a CNMI political election. While George W. Bush is their Chief of State, CNMI citizens do not vote in the US's Presidential elections. The CNMI has a Resident Representative who represents the islands in the House of Representatives in Washington, D.C. The Representative is allowed to vote in sub-committees but not bills that are put forth in the House. The US also provides the islands with military protection and handles all of CNMI's international affairs for the territory[4].

Their judicial system is very similar to that of the US. There is a Superior Court, Commonwealth Supreme Court and a Federal District Court. While US Federal Laws apply to the territory, the islands are not part of the US Custom's jurisdiction. There is a controversy over the differences between the US's immigration laws and the CNMI's immigration laws. Many people from poor Asian countries have been using the CNMI as a backdoor method to obtaining a US Green Card and US citizenship. The US's Federal Minimum Wage law is not observed in the islands, making it a very attractive location for factories.

. Capitals and Cores

Saipan, the second largest island in the CNMI, serves as the administrative capital for the Common Wealth. The Island of Saipan is 12.5 miles long and 5.5 miles wide. The Japanese made Saipan into the core of the Mariana Islands. As the fishing and sugar cane businesses became more successful, more people moved to island from Japan and the other Mariana Islands. Because of the large Japanese population on the island and its strategic location in the Pacific, US forces overthrew the Japanese and took procession of the island. The US Navy had control of the Island throughout much of WWII and made investments in the Island for military uses. Much of the activity in the Islands has always happened in Saipan. It has always been the economic center of the territory, so it made since for it be made the capital of the CNMI when the islands became a territory.

Ethnicity and Language

The islands have had four different ruling countries in their history: Spain, Germany, Japan and the US. Each culture has had an affect on the native Chamorro culture.

The Spanish are responsible for introducing the Chamorro to Christianity. The Spaniard's taught them how to raise animals and built school's to teach the people Spanish and Christianity. The Chamorro incorporated many Spanish words into their language. Many people in the islands have Spanish last names due to the intermarriages between Chamorro and Spaniards.

Germany didn't rule the islands for very long but they continued to educate the Chamorro as the Spanish had done. They were also interested in advancing healthcare in the islands. George Fritz, the District Officer for the German Administration, wanted to impress upon the people the importance of being punctual.

The Japanese had a large influence of the economic development of the islands. The Japanese started to grow sugarcane. The revenues from the successful sugarcane farms went towards building infrastructure. During the Japanese rule, Saipan had a railroad to move goods and people around the island. After Japan's defeat on the islands, there hasn't been an operating railroad since. The Japanese language has worked itself into the Chamorro language. After the US forces occupied the islands, some Japanese had decided to remain in the Mariana Islands. There is a large population of elderly Japanese in Saipan today.

English is the official language of the CNMI. Chamorro and Carolinian are also widely spoken languages. Though it's not an official language, Japanese is also widely spoken due to large amount of Japanese tourists who visit.

Roman Catholic is the dominate religion of the islands, other Christian faiths are represented as well. Many native people combine the ancient religious practices of the islands with traditional Catholic practices.

In 1998 Saipan had a population of 68, 000, 40, 000 of which were either Chinese or Filipino contract workers. According to the 2000 US Census report the CNMI major ethnic groups are (in the thousands): Filipino 18, 141, Chinese 15, 311, Chamorro 14, 749 and Part Chamorro 4, 383.

Internal and External Conflicts

Tourism is a large part of the CNMI's economy. In 1996 Saipan enjoyed an 85.6% hotel occupancy rate. It's currently suffering due to Japan Airline's (JAL) decision to discontinue flights from Japan to Saipan in October 2005. 70% of Saipan's tourists are Japanese and over 50% of the tourists arrive to Saipan via JAL. Former Governor Juan N. Babauta, sent a 10 man delegation to Japan to meet with the Japanese Department of Transportation and JAL executives. JAL explained that the decision to cut the flights was due to corporate restructuring and rising fuel costs in Japan, they were unable to continue the flights[5]. CNMI had to turn to other industries to make up for their lost tourism revenues.

Clothing is the island's biggest export. The industry has grown from $5.4 million in 1985 to almost $1 billion in 1999[6]. TheCNMI garment industry has created a lot of controversy in the past few years. US Clothing companies can have their clothing made in the islands cheaply and the clothes will bear the tag "Made in America".

There are ads in Asian newspaper that recruit young Asian women to work in Saipan. The ads usually say that the women will work as waitresses or in at a resort hotel. The women are assured that everything will be alright because it's an American territory that they will be working in and maybe they can eventually become American citizens. Most of the recruits are Chinese, Sri Lankan, and Bangladeshi.

The women become indentured servants by signing contracts with the traffickers to work off their transportation and employment fees. Sometimes these fees can be as much as $10, 000. Currently the min wage in CNMI is $3.05, labor laws are almost non-existent, and OSHA standards are not enforced here. Once they are employed, they are abused by their bosses sexually and physically. They are made to work overtime without being compensated for their work. The women who were promised jobs waiting tables are usually sent to work at brothels, where they are held prisoner.

Another large issue with the CNMI's garment factories is the fact that there are several garment factories that are owned by the Chinese government in Saipan. The US currently runs a large trade deficit with China. The garments produced in these Chinese factories, by Chinese workers come into the US without traffics or quotas bearing the "Made in the US." This is not fair to the US's other trade partners that are subject to import fees and quotas[7].

In 1995 the Philippine government put a ban on Filipino citizens working unskilled jobs, due to abuses and exploitation in the factories. The US also received complaints from Nepal, Sri Lanka and Bangladesh. In May of 1997 US President Bill Clinton responded to the allegations by saying that what was happening in the CNMI was "Inconsistent with US values". The US congress gave the CNMI 7 million dollars in order to fix their labor practices[8].

Ronald D. Sablan, President of The Hotel Association of the Northern Mariana Islands (HANMI), testified in 1999 to the US Congress, how reforms in immigration and minimum wage would be devastating to the entire CNMI economy. He stated that CNMI had to have lax immigration laws in order to import the workers they needed in order to run their hotels. Sablan insisted that even though HANMI had made efforts to train and hire local residents, there simply are not enough people to fill all of the jobs. He felt that US immigration and naturalization laws were unfair and wouldn't work for the CNMI. If the laws were enforced in the islands, the hotels would only be able to hire US citizens for the positions. This would mean having pay thousands of dollars to recruit workers from mainland US and then paying for the worker's relocation expenses. Sablan said that "It is unlikely that employers could undertake such great expense and risk for anything less than managerial positions." Sablan argued that without proper manning of the tourism industry, the quality of the services provided would suffer and industry would continue to decline[9]. He also compared Guam, another US territory to the Mariana Islands. He believed that Guam had been given many benefits that his islands hadn't because of the US Military presence in Guam. The US military has invested in Guam infrastructure by building power plants and water desalinization plants. The Hotels in the Mariana Islands have to be able to produce their own electricity and clean water; they can't depend on the island's own infrastructure. He contrasted the two territories to point out how disadvantaged his islands were, when they were competing against other vacation spots.

Jack Abramoff, the infamous lobbyist, worked for the islands from 1994 to 2001, to ensure that Congress wouldn't change their immigration laws or make them raise their minimum wage. Abramoff arranged Saipan vacations for government officials and their families. Tom Delay (R), then house whip, visited the islands in the late 1900's with his family. Delay came back from the trip and announced that he didn't observe any human right violations and that he felt that the minimum wage was adequate. He was later alleged to have blocked legislation dealing with immigration reform and labor standards[10].

Hawaiian Senator Daniel K. Akaka (D) and Alaskan Senator Frank H. Murkowski (R) worked together in 2000 to put together Senate Bill 1052, the Northern Mariana Islands Covenant Implementation Act. This bill was proposed to help reform the islands poor immigration policies. Both Senators took an interest in the bill due to both their states being exclaves of the US, like the Mariana Islands. Akaka accused the islands of creating "a plantation economy that relies upon wholesale importation of low-paid, short term indentured workers." In his testimony in the Senate on February 7, 2000, Akaka said that "America is one country. We need a uniform immigration system, not one system for the 50 states and another one for our territories."[11] S. 1052 would grant the islands a 10 year transition period where it would wean itself off of using cheap labor. This would give the islands enough time to find suitable labor and not devastate their economy. The bill would also provide "technical assistance" for training, recruitment and economic diversification of the islands. There were grandfather provisions for workers who had worked for 4 years to be granted citizenship. The Senate voted on the bill the same day as Akaka's speech and S. 1052 was passed unanimously[12].

In 1999 Factory workers along with The Asian Law Caucus, Global Exchange and UNITE filed 3 separate lawsuits against several garment manufacturers and 26 major clothing retailers, including GAP, Abercrombie and Fitch, The Gymboree Corp, and Ralph Lauren. In 2003 the courts ruled in the workers favor and the clothing retailers were ordered to create an account of $20 million dollars to compensate over 30, 000 abused factory workers. The account would also be used to fund an independent monitoring group that would ensure that the abused were not continued[13].

Conclusion

The biggest problem facing the CNMI's has no real economic stability. Their economy is completely at the mercy of the US and the Asian countries that surround them. The islands have been an independent territory for only 28 years. They have received virtually no training in how to develop a healthy and viable economy. At least they don't have to worry about their currency; they use the US's dollar. Even though the Northern Mariana Islands Covenant Implementation Act was passed in 2000, not much has been done to by the CNMI government to discover new industries that could bring economic stability to the islands. They are still heavily relying on their current top 2 sectors: tourism and garment manufacturing.

The island's economy greatly depends on the Japanese tourism. If the Japanese found a new favorite vacation hot spot, the CNMI would be in financial ruin. The industry is also dependent on other countries' airlines to run flights to deliver tourists to the islands.

To be competitive in the world marketplace, Saipan had to adopt some less than ethical labor practices in order to attract clients. Currently Saipan is still allowed to import cheap labor from communist China and other poor Asians countries. In the next three years, they will have to start complying with US Federal Immigration and Naturalization laws and will not be allowed to let just anyone work in their factories. When the factories are not able to use cheap labor and production costs go up due to increased minimum wages, the clothing retailers are going to take their business to a locations that will produce their clothing for a the cheaper price and that will leave the CNMI with only one main industry.

The CNMI continues to argue with the US that it needs to have immigration laws that allow for a large influx of workers because there aren't enough CNMI citizens for all of the work. The islands should find industries that are more capital intensive verses labor intensive if they are having problems finding laborers.

Currently there doesn't seem to be any disputes within the islands, though Saipan is the most economically successful of the islands and that could make for future tension. There is a possibility that in the future Saipan might want to become independent of the CNMI because it's tired of being the only economically successful island. This is a hard territory is to unify because each island has to have it's very own infrastructure, which is costly for the CNMI to provide.

[1] Joanne Mahr, "The Common Wealth of the Northern Mariana Islands" The Europa World Yearbook 2006 47th Edition, Volume 2. Suffolk, England: William Clowves Limited. 2006.

[2] Jeffery Schorr, "Common Wealth of Northern Mariana". http://www.doi.gov/oia/Islandpages/cnmimain.htm (20 Nov 2006).

[3]"Saipan." Encyclopedia of Asian History. 4 vols. Charles Scribner's Sons, 1988.

[4] CIA. (2006, November 14). The World Fact Book, Northern Mariana Islands. Retrived November 28, 2006, From https://www.cia.gov/cia/publications/factbook/geos/cq.html.

[5] Frank S. Rosario, "JAL Quits Saipan", Pacific Magazine 1 July 2005.

[6] Anonymous, "Stretching Labor Law Far into South Pacific". Migration World Magazine. 1999, Vol. 27 issue 3.

[7] McDonald, G. (1997, December 23). Conservative Lawmakers Flocking to Pacific Island. Houston Chronicle Washington Bureau.

[8] "Akaka Leads Senate Debate on CNMI Immigration Reform: Press Release" Daniel Kahikina Akaka Senate Homepage. 2000. US Senate. 7 February 2000. http://akaka.senate.gov/public/index.cfm?FuseAction=PressReleases.Home&month=2&year=200 0&release_id=599

[9] Sablan, R.D. (1999, September) Northern Mariana Island: Congressional Testimony. Speech presented at United States House of Representatives, Washington, D.C.

[10] Ellis, Kristi. "Abramoff's Links to the Industry", WWD. 20 January 2006.

[11] "Akaka Leads Senate Debate on CNMI Immigration Reform: Press Release" Daniel Kahikina Akaka Senate Homepage. 2000. US Senate. 7 February 2000. http://akaka.senate.gov/public/index.cfm?FuseAction=PressReleases.Home&month=2&year=200 0&release_id=599

[12] "Senate Passes CNMI Reform Bill: Press Release". Daniel Kahikina Akaka Senate Homepage. 2000. US Senate. 7 February 2000. http://akaka.senate.gov/public/index.cfm?FuseAction=PressReleases.Home&month=2&year=200 0&release_id=598

[13] SweatShop Watch: Holding Retailers Responsible. Retrieved November 20, 2006 from http://72.14.209.104/search?q=cache:4tjeVHa_OQJ:www.sweatshopwatch.org/index.php%3Fs%3 D54+lawsuit+against+clothing+companies+in+saipan&hl=en&gl=us&ct=clnk&cd=1