Independence from FSM could back-fire on Chuuk state

Transcript

An expert on Micronesia says a push from Chuuk to break away from the Federated States of Micronesia is a short-sighted concept.

There is an independence push coming from some of the leaders of Chuuk, one of the four island states that make up the FSM.

The director of the East West Center's Pacific Islands Development Programme, Jerry Finin, says it may have grown out of frustration with the way in which its relationship with central government is structured.

But Jerry Finin told Bridget Tunnicliffe there could be long-term implications for Chuuk if it did break away from the relative security the FSM provides.

GERARD FINN: This is an issue that has been raised from time to time. As a young nation state the Federated States of Micronesia has always found it challenging to keep the four states working together in unison. I think there's also been some sense that the central government may play too larger role in the funding of state activities and all of that would suggest that independence might provide a greater level of autonomy. However, it's not at all clear whether this is something that the central government would allow it also would have implications for the Free Association Relationship with the United States and there is some question as to whether the United States would continue its Free Association relations with another independent country in Micronesia. So a host of questions and some of it may grow out of frustrations with the way in which the relationship with the central government is now structured but speaking very candidly I think it's unlikely to happen.

BRIDGET TUNNICLIFFE: Last year a referendum on this very issue was postponed indefinitely. Say if that referendum had gone ahead and it was overwhelmingly in favour, what actually needs to happen next, because it wouldn't just be as simple as that would it?

GF: Not at all and I don't know if there is a constitutional process that would allow for that. Most nations of course see themselves as an integral whole and I just think that it might be short-sighted to think about the advantages without seeing what the longer term implications might be. Chuuk of course is the largest state in terms of population and it has a host of challenges for example in the areas of education and health right now but that's not to say that the long-term prospects for Chuuk aren't very good. In fact there's a bit of research that's coming out within the next few months suggesting that there's much potential for tourism industry evolving there over time. So all of this is sort of speculative at the moment and I think that it will garner a lot of attention both from the national government of the Federated States of Micronesia as well as from the US government but over the long-term FSM is I think in a much better position by staying together with the four states.