HAWAII once was America's lighthouse in the Pacific for the 21 island countries and territories spread around this watery domain -- big ones like Papua New Guinea, tiny ones like Niue, rich ones like Guam, poor ones like Tuvalu, and most of them highly dependent on outside help and investment. Shrinking U.S. presence
in the PacificArea leaders were educated here. There was a lot of interchange. We remain the biggest center for American political and economic activity in the islands outside Washington, D.C. We also are a hub for air and sea connections. Just saying you are from Hawaii is still a way to quicker acceptance in many areas.
But our role is diminishing. It may be that President Bush's 1990 East-West Center summit with 13 Pacific islands leaders was the peak. Things since then have been on a downhill track -- here and in Washington.
The "Inner Pacific" is an important area with nine votes in the United Nations General Assembly, annual income of about $18 billion, a population of 6.8 million and control over vast 200-mile-zone fishing areas and whatever mineral resources may lie under the seabed.
Its military significance has diminished now that America no longer worries about the Soviet Union poking into the region. We have settled most fishing rights questions and have cleared up international disputes over dozens of tiny islands. A lot of tent-folding is going on.
The U.S. is shrinking its diplomatic presence. The State Department may fold its Office of Pacific Island Affairs into the office that handles Australia and New Zealand.
Hawaii pulled out of the Pacific Basin Development Council to save $63,500 a year. PBDC remains a consortium of the governors of Guam, American Samoa and the Commonwealth of the Northern Marianas with its headquarters still here, but no official Hawaii participation. Economic cooperation is one goal. Drumming up federal aid is another.
The East-West Center is in danger of losing its Pacific Islands Development Program to Tahiti. This regularly draws island chiefs of state to meet here. It coordinates economic activity and research. It also was intended to be a funnel for the U.S. aid that is drying up.
Now all PIDP gets from the financially strapped East-West Center is offices. Its major funding comes from Japan, the islands themselves and France, which closed its consulate general here last year and now wants to woo PIDP away from us.
We have two big business arms reaching into the islands. Bancorp Hawaii, soon to be called Pacific Century Corp., is the pre-eminent banker for the area. It publishes very useful economic reports. Outrigger Hotels is getting established.
THE U.S. Pacific Command and its individual service commands remain in contact. The Army and Navy send out support teams for disaster help, public works projects and port calls.
The University of Hawaii's Center for Pacific Island Studies remains well-staffed and well-regarded. Good thing; it is the only Pacific-focused center at any major U.S. university.
Pacific island students flow to UH, PIDP, Brigham Young University-Hawaii and Hawaii Pacific University. The Bishop Museum continues to have the world's best cultural and biological collections representing the islands.
Robert Kiste, director of the UH Pacific Island Studies Center, says Pacific island leaders value Hawaii as their connecting-point to the U.S. He heads an international committee to see if PIDP can be kept here, but is not sure the answer will turn out to be yes.