Memorandum for the President: Future Political Status of Micronesia
Department of State (1976-05-24). Memorandum for the President: Future Political Status of Micronesia. Department of State.
- Has attachment: File:574T4NN3.pdf
Abstract: The Under secretaries Committee recommends your approval of the attached instructions for Ambassador F. Haydn Williams, your representative for Micronesian status negotiations, for the con- duct of negotiations with representatives of five districts of the Тгust Territory of the Pacific Islands (TTPI) regarding their future political status. An interagency study on this subject is also attached. These documents have been prepared in response to Ambassador Williams' request in his letter to you of December 10, 1975, for a review of the NSC policy paper on Micronesia dated August 27 1973.
That policy study had recommended that the United States seek to attain the agreement of representatives of the five districts of the TTPI to a "free association" relationship (i.e. less than fully sovereign) with the United States -with the US responsible for foreign and defense affairs and Micronesia fully self-governing with respect to internal affairs. Although Ambassador Williams and the Micronesia negotiators reached tentative agreement in October 1974 on a draft compact of Free Association, the Congress of Micronesia (CON) was unwilling to approve it subequently on the grounds that it judged the United States offer of financial assistance inadequate when measured against the authority the United States proposed to retain over Micronesian foreign and defense matters.
Meanwhile, pursuant to Presidential decisions based on another 1973 NSC study, Ambassador Williams negotiated a separate agreement with representatives of the Northern Marianas by which those islands would become an unincorporated territory (common- wealth) of the United states. This agreement was signed on February 15, 1975, and has been approved by the United States and the Northern Marianas. The Commonwealth Covenant is now Public Law 94-241, signed by you on March 24, 1976.
It now remains to try to work out an agreement establishing the political status of the Caroline and Marshall Islands. These islands, together with the Northern Marianas, make up the Trust Territory of the Pacific Islands, which is a strategic trustee- ship administered by the United States pursuant to an agreement of 1947 with the United Nations. The TTPI is the last remaining UN Trusteeship. The situation in Micronesia has been complicated by several recent developments, in particular (1) the approval in November 1975 by a Micronesian Constitutional Convention of a draft constitution which purports to be "the supreme law of the Federated States of Micronesia" and which conflicts with the basic principles underlying the draft Compact of Free Association, and (2) evidence of growing separatist tendencies in two of the more important districts, the Marshalls and Palau, both of which have formally expressed their desire for separate status negotiations with the United States.
The major US security interests in Micronesia are: (1) the denial of these islands to the military forces of third countries; (2) US access to Nicronesian land, water and air space through a continuation of current land use arrangements, principally those relating to the missile testing range at: Kwajalein, and the right of the us to negotiate additional land use option agreements in Palau, and elsewhere in case of emergency; and (З) the long-term protection of US access and denial rights in the event of substantial modification or termination of any future political relationship between the United States and Micronesia. In this connection, the continued growth of Soviet sea power in the Western Pacific is of particular concern.
The United States also has a political interest in a stable and cooperative relationship with Miсгоnеsiа in order to safeguard our security interests in the Western Pacific. We have no specific economic interests, although law of the sea arrangements could create valuable rights to marine resources in Micronesia. `
The general US negotiating objective is the conclusion of an agreement establishing a political relationship in the post-trusteeship period which will protect US strategic interests and establish a sound basis for a close, friendly and enduring relationship between the United States arid a future Micronesian government representing the five districts of the TTPI. As regards Micronesian views and interests, it is evident that Micronesia's leaders have not arrived at a consensus regarding the precise nature of the future political relationship with the US...
