Amata Highlights Pago Pago Harbor as Ideal Site for Coast Guard Cutters

Statement

On a four-person panel that included senior Biden Administration officials from the White House, State, and Defense departments, Congresswoman Uifa'atali Amata reiterated her call for the U.S. to homeport a squadron of Coast Guard cutters in Pago Pago harbor. Given the urgent need to counter China's growing involvement in the South Pacific, said the congresswoman, "We in American Samoa welcome talk in Washington of homeporting a squadron of US Coast Guard cutters in Pago Pago harbor."

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Pago Pago Harbor 2
Pago Pago Harbor

Speaking at the official launch of a new publication and website on US-Pacific Islands relations by the East-West Center, Congresswoman Amata delivered her remarks remotely from Tutuila, where she is currently reviewing the work of the federal team with whom she arrived to help combat the recent COVID outbreak on the island.

"Your focus today on the Pacific Islands and Oceania is so important," she told the gathering in the U.S. Capitol. "Since World War II, all U.S. policy in the Pacific has flowed from two national defense imperatives: keep the sea lanes to Asia open, and keep bad actors out of the region," Congresswoman Amata said, going on to detail the historic elements of U.S. policy in the Pacific, leading up to the current need to counter China.

The publication will feature infographics, data, and analysis of economic, diplomatic, and cultural ties at the national, state, and local levels with the Pacific Islands. The program, introduced by East-West Center President Suzanne Puanani Vares-Lum and Interior Deputy Assistant Secretary for Insular and International Affairs Keone Nakoa, was followed by three panels of high-level speakers led off by Members of Congress with Pacific responsibilities: Reps. Ami Bera (CA); Don Young (AK); Steve Chabot (OH); Ed Case (HI) and Rep. Brad Sherman (CA).

In addition to the Congresswoman, the second panel included Erika L. Moritsugu, Deputy Assistant to the President and Asian American and Pacific Islander Senior Liaison for the White House Office of the Chief of Staff; Mark Lambert, Deputy Assistant Secretary, Bureau of East Asian and Pacific Affairs, United States Department of State; and Cara Allison Marshall, Principal Director, East Asia, OSD-Policy/Indo-Pacific Security Affairs, Department of Defense.

Speaking in the third panel were senior Pacific diplomats: Australian Ambassador Arthur Sinodinos, New Zealand Ambassador Rosemary Banks, Marshall Islands Ambassador Gerald Zackios, Fiji U.N. Ambassador Satyendra Prasad, and Palau Ambassador Hersey Kyota, who also is Dean of the Diplomatic Corps.

Video of Congresswoman Amata is available here.

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Congresswoman Amata's remarks are transcribed in full as follows:

Talofa, talofa lava! Thank you for the opportunity to send greetings from beautiful American Samoa! My apologies for not being there for your panel, but as you can see, I'm delighted to be at my home on Coconut Point for the first time in a long year of Covid precautions. I am here for a very short time with a federal team combating a recent Covid outbreak and was unable to arrange my schedule to be with you live so I apologize for these recorded remarks.

Your focus today on the Pacific Islands and Oceania is so important. Since World War II, all U.S. policy in the Pacific has flowed from two national defense imperatives: keep the sea lanes to Asia open, and keep bad actors out of the region. We did that successfully and things were quiet in the Pacific for a long time after the war. The U.S. dominated north of the equator; Australia, New Zealand and France were the main protectors in the south as the Pacific Islands began an evolution into self-government and independence. American Samoa had the first non-hereditary head of government in 1956 when President Eisenhower appointed my father as the first native governor and nearby Western Samoa had its first head of government with the appointment of the current Prime Minister's father in 1959.

In the mid-1980s, three events woke up the region: New Zealand elected a government pledged to be nuclear-free; in a Vladivostok speech, Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev declared the Soviet Union a Pacific power; and Kiribati signed a fishing treaty with the Soviets.

That was enough for all the warning bells to go off in Foggy Bottom. All of a sudden, what had been an office of Australia, New Zealand Pacific affairs was divided into three -- with Pacific islands getting their own, and another for the Freely Associated States. Long stalled political status negotiations with the Trust Territory were concluded, Washington opened up USIA and USAID offices in the region and upgraded our embassies. And for the first time ever in a State of the Union speech, President Reagan warned of the Soviet presence in the region.

But then within a few years, the Soviet Union collapsed; funds budgeted to support the U.S. presence in the Pacific got diverted to central Asia to support U.S. relations with the newly independent Soviet republics. The extra offices disappeared at State Department as the ANP office was recreated.

Fast forward to today. The Soviet Union is gone, the Russians are preoccupied elsewhere, and there's a growing presence of China in the region with the Chinese Communist Party eager to fund projects in a number of countries in the region, including our neighbors in independent Samoa and the Kingdom of Tonga. We in American Samoa welcome talk in Washington of homeporting a squadron of US Coast Guard cutters in Pago Pago harbor.

Against this backdrop, you will never be short of material for your publication and website! The Pacific Islands Matter for America; America Matters for the Pacific Islands, and the U.S. role must be thorough engagement. On that note, I would encourage you to watch the Georgetown University's Center for Australia, New Zealand, and Pacific Studies website for the announcement of the lecture to be given virtually by my friend Prime Minister Fiame, the historic first female Prime Minister of Samoa. She will be delivering the Peter Tali Coleman lecture in Pacific Public Policy next month and, as she also is foreign minister, I expect she will have a lot to say that this audience will want to hear. Have a great event today, and make a positive difference for the Pacific Islands. And finally, I wish all the women on the program and in the audience a Happy International Women's Day. Faafetai, Soifua ma ia manuia!

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