THE TRUST TERRITORY OF THE PACIFIC ISLANDS

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP79T00826A002400270001-0
• Release Decision: RIPPUB
• Original Classification: C
• Document Page Count: 6
• Document Creation Date: December 9, 2016
• Document Release Date: March 5, 2001
• Sequence Number: 1
• Publication Date: July 25, 1967
• Content Type: MEMO

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THE TRUST TERRITORY OF THE PACIFIC ISLANDS
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25 July 1967
SUBJECT: The Trust Territory of the Pacific Islands
1. The Trust Territory of the Pacific Islands
(TTPI) is an area of strategic importance to the
United States. The islands flank the US forward
defense perimeter and dominate the sea lanes to
Southeast Asia and the South Pacific. Retention of
base rights in the area and in the adjacent unin-
corporated territory of Guam are an integral part
of US forward defense planning. Domination of the
TTPI by a foreign power would therefore directly
affect US national security interests.
2. It has been suggested that, as a result of
both internal sentiment and international pressures,
the inhabitants of the Territory are likely to
demand an early plebiscite through which they would
seek to place themselves under the administration
of their pre-war rulers, the Japanese. Available
evidence does not support this view.
3. There has been considerable pressure within
the United Nations for the granting of independence
to the TTPI, one of only three areas remaining
under UN trusteeship. These pressures come primarily
from former colonial states and the Soviet Union.
A UN-sponsored plebiscite could be one result of
such pressures, particularly if a significant ele-
ment among the TTPI inhabitants were to request it.
Early this year a member of the Marianas delegation
in the Congress of Micronesia did in fact tell the
UN Visiting Mission that the people of the Marianas
want a plebiscite no later than 1970. The Mission,
however, during their February-March investigation
made a special effort to test public opinion on this
subject and found that very few inhabitants had a
clear idea of the alternatives open to them; the
most common reaction reported by the mission was a
desire for continuation of the trusteeship.
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4. Should a plebiscite be held in the next
three years, the most likely result would be a de-
cision for association with the United States,
rather than outright independence or association
with some other power. The Marianas delegate who
petitioned the UN Visiting Mission for a plebiscite,
Senator Francisco T. Palacios, went on to say that
"we have no doubt in our minds that we are ready
to become an independent, unincorporated territory
of the United States of America or a Commonwealth
of the United States."
5. Educated Micronesians realize that inde-
pendence is not economically feasible; this is also
recognized by members of the UN Trusteeship Council.
Senator Palacios, in the statement already referred
to, observed that an independent Pacific Islands
nation would have to seek foreign aid for even such
needed public services as education and public
health. Although in his opinion the US, the USSR,
China, Japan, and perhaps other nations might offer
such aid in return for economic concessions, he
preferred unilateral association with one country--
the United States--to diffused dependence on
several.
6. Available evidence does not support a pre-
diction that the.Micronesians would choose Japan in
a plebiscite. Some of the older islanders may like
to remember. the 1920s as the "good days" when,
under Japanese administration, the islands experienced
relative economic prosperity. At present there is
probably some desire on the part of Japan for
closer economic ties with the Territory in the
fields of fishing and tourism, but such desires do
not indicate a Japanese wish to annex and subsidize
the area. Nor could Japan's air and naval assets
provide protection for the islands.
7. Constructive development programs under-
taken by the United States in recent years have
done much to allay criticisms of the immediate post-
war administration of the territory. Among the
evidences of increased US concern visible to the in-
habitants are expanded budget allocations, a more
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vigorous administration, and the assignment of
large numbers of Peace Corps Volunteers to the
islands. Thus, although external pressures for the
holding of a plebiscite may well grow, continued
US efforts to generate political, social and
particularly economic progress should leave little
doubt as to where the best interests of the is-
landers lie in any future political association.
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Trust Territory of the Pacific Islands (TTPI)
Land Area: 687 square miles. (Some 2,141 islands
in 97 "island units"; 64 islands
regularly inhabited.)
Population: 92,373 (1966)
Major Ethnic Groups: Micronesian. Nine major
languages, with regional dia-
lect variations.
Sovereignty: US "strategic" trust territory.
Self-Government: Bicameral Congress of Micronesia;
6 Districts; 53 Chartered
Municipalities.
Economy: Subsistence agriculture and fishing; copra
main export; heavy trade imbalance.
Guam
Area: 209 square miles.
Population: 44,892 (1964) plus an estimated 30,000
military transients.
Major Ethnic Groups: Guamanian or Chamorro (basically
Micronesian with admixture of
Spanish, Mexican, and Filipino),
35,000. Filipino contract labor,
8,000 (1957).
Sovereignty: US unincorporated territory.
Self-Government: Local legislative autonomy; party
system; US envisages full internal
self-government on pre-statehood
Hawaii/Alaska pattern.
Economy: Subsistence agriculture and heavy dependence
on military base employment; heavy trade
imbalance.
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MEMOR NDUM FOR: 'OR's
Prepared at the request of (particul:rrd
unknown)
10 conies to_ STATINTL
4 cys to i'G'O, STATINTL
1 cy t o D/(C I
I c, ~ STATINTL
25 July 67
P-icronesia,, or The Trust Territory of the Pacific
Islaids
(DATE)
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FORM NO.
1 AUG 54