Making Nations

That issue quoted Merrill Lynch's Guam branch manager Joseph Stoll as saying Guam's economy will always do well because of its location, government and schools. Twenty-five years has taught us that those attributes are clearly not enough, something that Guam and other Pacific territories and nations have had to come to grips with in the intervening years.

The article also conveyed the suspicion of an official in the Guam Economic Development Authority-ironically enough-about the ability of the private sector to contribute to that economic development. While our recent feature on Guam forecast continued growth, businesspeople we talked to pointed to privatization of government enterprises as a major driver of that growth.

And the 1980 piece also quoted businessman Jesse Norton who claims "increasing power rates will force him out of business." That sounds eerily familiar-as if it could be said by any number of island businesspeople in recent months-as the oil price steadily increased. From Suva to Saipan we are thinking about our personal fuel consumption-how to make that tank of petrol last as long as possible-and how to efficiently run businesses and governments with exponentially increasing energy costs. The Pacific Islands Forum meeting this month is likely to look at the bulk purchasing and centralized storage of fuel, which has been articulated as one of the so-called "early practical benefits" of the Pacific Plan.

The Papua New Guinea Forum will take the region's leaders into close proximity to Bougainville, where we are seeing the making of a nation. In Bougainville the government is "getting away from the violence" of the past years, with one parliamentarian, Moses Havini, saying they are trying to find a way to make traditional leadership and the new political structures meet. It's a process that has been undertaken with varying success in many Pacific countries, again as a survey of past issues of Pacific Magazine describe. In Bougainville a committee will look at the systems in Vanuatu and Fiji, where the Malvata Mauri and Boselevu Vakaturaga (chiefly councils) advise their respective governments on indigenous matters.

It's not all smooth sailing on Bougainville, of course. Papua New Guinean constitutional lawyer Ben Lomani says the concessions made for the new Bougainvillean constitution has stripped legislative powers from the National Parliament-a violation of the Constitution. And the mysterious Brit James Nesbitt and Australian Jeff Richard are still in Bougainville, where they are reportedly working with the rebel Me'ekamui government of the late rebel leader, Francis Ona.

For now Bougainville will not have to enter into another labyrinth of establishing nationhood, that of foreign affairs. This month's issue includes an interview with China's Director General of the Department of North American and Oceanian Affairs, He Yafei, whose contribution to the continued debate over recognition of China versus Taiwan is to say that some Pacific nations "went back on their words" on the Taiwan question and "broke faith with China."

China is a significant aid donor to the region, and its trade to the region last year was US$530 million-an almost doubling of the 2000 figure. For Pacific nations old and new alike, establishing how they manage relations with China is a significant question needing clearheaded rather than emotional debate.

CORRECTION: In the August issue we reported that Deputy Assistant Secretary of the Interior David Cohen had rebutted comments made by Federated States Of Micronesia Speaker Peter Christian in his opening remarks to the U.S.-FSM Joint Economic Management Committee (JEMCO) group. In fact, Cohen handed out his remarks at the meeting. Pacific Magazine regrets the error.