THE government and traditional leadership of Yap have taken a huge step toward ensuring their financial future, with an agreement signed over the weekend and reported elsewhere in this edition of the Variety.
The pact could bring billions of dollars of infrastructure and commercial development to the state.
Yap is the closest to Guam of any of the Federated States of Micronesia, just a couple of hours away. Officials there have been discussing and negotiating with developers out of Chengdu in mainland China for more than a year. The agreement signed on Saturday is the fifth version of the contract, which is called a “cooperative investment agreement.”
As originally envisioned, the plan was to bring as many as 10,000 hotel rooms to various locations in Yap, along with golf courses, spas, restaurants and all the other amenities of an intensive visitor industry development. “The objective of this project is to develop the State of Yap into a world renowned tourism destination,”the agreement states.
The parties also agree that “the local culture and environment shall be preserved during the whole term of the project.” The company, ETG, agrees it will not engage or invest in any industrial or mining activities. “Such activities are inconsistent with the principle of self-sustainability underpinning the project concept,” the agreement states.
The scope of the planned development is mind-boggling. ETG agrees to upgrade the airport and seaport facilities to accommodate the requirements of what will be the largest investment and development in the entire FSM, by far, since the founding of the nation. ETG will also fund the creation of a new public park and a new state capitol.
Whether all of this will overflow into Guam is not clear. While most air and surface shipping to the FSM now goes through here, the ETG officials from China negotiating this agreement have flown into Yap directly. United Airlines, which provides twice-weekly commercial airline service to the state now, has not said anything about increasing the frequency of that service, although they would clearly be in a position to do so should conditions warrant.
The impact of all of this on Yap is a worry. The land of stone money is the most traditional of the Micronesian states, and things haven’t really changed very much there for the past 50 years. It’s a small, tightly knit community where traditional leadership is more highly respected than the elected leadership. Although Gov. Sebastian Anefal signed the agreement on behalf of the state, he would not have been able to do so without the acquiescence of the Council of Pilung, the traditional chiefs of Yap, who were present at the signing.
So this grandiose project is now, finally, going to get underway. We wish the best of luck to our neighbors, the Yapese, as they embark on this phenomenal adventure.
Rolling the Chinese dice
- Tuesday, 14 Aug 2012 03:30am
- VARIETY NEWS STAFF
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Comments
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Yap is now a Chinese military base. The improvements for civilians are designed for military aircraft and warships. No country will come to the aid if Yap, like how many warships does the Pacific islands have ?
China now rules Yap, well give them 5 years and soon all Yapese will bow to their Chinese Masters.
China plans Pacific domination, o'bama will not interfere, he is weak. The Russians are building a massive naval base in Kuba, o;bama does not care.
http://www.discerningtoday.org/members/Digest/2000Digest/October/china_plans_for_world_domination.htm
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So, we are transitioning from an era of "noxious monarchies" and "noxious nationalism" to an era of regionalism and globalism. If central banks around the world, for instance, are acting in concert on monetary policy, as they have been, that means there is already the makings of a rudimentary global political alliance, without the approval of voters from participating countries.
In the context of self-determination, borders and boundaries were drawn up by colonizers to make nations, subjects of monarchies. India, like Iraq, for example, did not have present day borders until the British drew them up, and India, like Iraq, might find it increasingly difficult to maintain solidarity among its varied groups of people. (Sikhs, the subject of debate about gun violence in the U.S., wanted independence for their Punjab state, the richest state there.)
While folks are fighting yesterday's battles, the world has passed them by.
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