The topic of 'Sub-regionalism in Micronesia', is something I have observed and been involved in since the 1990s. The formation of Micronesian Sub Regionalism has been my mission and a will that I have nurtured through my encounters with President Nakamura of Palau, and other Micronesian leaders, through his repeated exhortations to me: "Japan, get a grip!".
My experience with the Japanese ODA funded project on the University of the South Pacific's satellite education project called USPNet, which was approved at the first Pacific Island Leaders Meeting in 1997, gave me a first-hand understanding that it is only natural that the Micronesian region, with its close relationship with the United States, should operate on a sub-regional basis. I have suggested and supported this concept of sub-regionalism.
I have made every effort to link the Micronesian region with a huge budget for ICT which was agreed upon at the G8 summit in 2000. As Palau and FSM are not members of USP, so USPNet education ICT service does not cover the Micronesia region. I supported the policy reform of the Micronesian telecommunications, despite firstly, the inhumane paper of a Japanese academic who argued that small island states do not need submarine cables, and secondly, the judgment of senior Japanese officials in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs that distance education is unnecessary. In 2008 President Mori finally got around to the deregulation of telecommunications in the Federated States of Micronesia.
That same year, Commander Timothy Keating of the U.S. Pacific Command made headlines when he told a hearing that he had been jokingly approached about China's Pacific ambitions - that China would rule the Pacific west of Hawaii, and the U.S. would rule the Pacific east. At the same time, those small Micronesiam Pacific island countries, which have vast marine resources, were not able to develop and manage their own EEZ, asked Japan for help.
I proposed the Micronesian Maritime Security Project as a new direction for the Japan-US alliance. I was able to launch the project immediately because I had a proven track record of providing ICT support in the Micronesian region, and the trust of President Nakamura and other leaders in the region.
I would like to write about the Micronesian Maritime Security Project in the next few blogs, because it was set up entirely by myself, with my intention and a will, and none of them requested me to do this. I am the only person who knows the meaning and process of this project. I regret that I was not able to provide information about this project, although it was mentioned in a report of the RAND Corporation.
In November 2008, I made this project as formally requested by the presidents of the three countries at the Micronesian Presidents Summit in Pohnpei, the capital of the Federated States of Micronesia. The Japanese Ministry of Land, Infrastructure, Transport and Tourism (MLIT) and the Japan Coast Guard (JCG) joined the project later. So they do not know how this project was formed. Staff of MILT and JCG did not have enough knowledge of international relations, security issues of Pacific, nor sufficient English skills which caused many problems, and I was always left to clean up their mess.
