Recognizing and welcoming the leaders of the Pacific Islands to Washington, D.C., and commending the East-West Center for hosting the Pacific Islands Conference of Leaders.

Mr. Speaker, I move to suspend the rules and agree to the resolution (H. Res. 355) recognizing and welcoming the leaders of the Pacific Islands to Washington, D.C., and commending the East- West Center for hosting the Pacific Islands Conference of Leaders.

Mr. Speaker, I ask unanimous consent that all Members may have 5 legislative days to revise and extend their remarks and to include extraneous material on the resolution under consideration.

Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume.

Mr. Speaker, I rise in strong support of this resolution.

I would like to thank my good friend, the gentleman from Texas, for his assistance in managing this important legislation now before our colleagues.

I would also like to thank our distinguished chairman of the House Foreign

Affairs Committee, Mr. Tom Lantos, for his support of this resolution which recognizes and welcomes the leaders of the Pacific Island nations to Washington, D.C., and certainly commends the East-West Center for hosting the Pacific Island Conference of Leaders.

The Pacific Island Conference of Leaders represents some 14 island nations, three French territories and three U.S. territories, including American Samoa. Each year these leaders meet at the East-West Center in Honolulu; but for the first time this year, this conference is being held here in our Nation's Capital.

Because this is a significant occasion, I want to thank our distinguished senior ranking member of the House Foreign Affairs Committee, Ms. Ros-Lehtinen, as well as the ranking minority member of the House Foreign Affairs Subcommittee on Asia and the Pacific and the Global Environment, my good friend Mr. Manzullo, for their support of this resolution.

I also thank the 24 Members, our distinguished colleagues, who joined us in cosponsoring this historic resolution, including Congresswoman Madeleine Bordallo of Guam. I also commend members of the Hawaii congressional delegation, Senator Daniel Inouye, Senator Daniel Akaka, Congressman Neil Abercrombie and Congresswoman Mazie Hirono, for their leadership in support of this legislation and other events and activities that will make the visit of our Pacific Island Leaders to Washington more meaningful and productive.

I especially want to thank also Governor Linda Lingle of the State of Hawaii for her support and for her co-hosting one of the important events that have been featured here while the guests are here in Washington.

Mr. Speaker, I would also like to commend Dr. Charles Morrison, president of the East-West Center and members of his staff, Dr. Sitiveni Halapua, and Dr. Gerard Finin for their hard work in arranging meetings that are being held right now, as I speak, with officials of the U.S. Department of State and other agencies of the Federal Government.

I want to especially thank our Secretary of State, Condoleezza Rice, for taking the time from her busy schedule to meet with our guests from the Pacific, and also Assistant Secretary of State, Chris Hill, and Deputy Assistant Secretary of State, Glyn Davies, and their staffs for arranging appropriate meetings with other officials representing the various agencies of the administration.

Mr. Speaker, this is truly a historical day in our Nation's Capital. With the exception of Australia and New Zealand, this is the first time in our country's history that this number of leaders representing the Pacific region are here as a group to meet with us and to discuss issues that are mutually important to them, as well as to us.

It was only in the last half century that our Nation was engaged in one of the bloodiest wars ever fought in the Pacific. World War II was fought in two fronts, one in Europe and the other in the Pacific. In the islands of the Solomons, where Guadalcanal, as some of you may have heard, is located in the Pacific, so are the Marshall Islands, the islands of Samoa, the Philippines, Papua, New Guinea, Palau, Guam, Saipan, Tinian, Rota, Tarawa, Midway, Borneo, Okinawa, Iwo Jima and several others. People of the Pacific played critical roles in U.S. efforts to fight Japanese military forces in response to the attack on Pearl Harbor on December 7, 1941.

After World War II, with the exception of Guam, the United States unilaterally declared the rest of Micronesia as a strategic trust, which meant that these islands were placed under the jurisdiction and protection of the United States.

But a national debate also began as a result of the devastation and the loss of some 200,000 lives when we dropped two atom bombs by our military that conducted this arrangement, where two atom bombs were dropped on the cities of Hiroshima and Nagasaki.

While the atom bombs brought an immediate end to World War II in the Pacific, scientists and political leaders in our country debated whether or not nuclear energy was to be used for military or peaceful purposes.

Although the military won its bid to conduct a nuclear testing program, the question was, where are we going to conduct the testing? Since it was obviously too dangerous to explode atomic bombs in any of the States in the continental United States, it was determined that a place far and away was needed, and thus the U.S. military command chose the Marshall Islands as the place to conduct our nuclear testing program.

I submit, Mr. Speaker, that I am not sure if my colleagues are aware of the fact that the U.S. exploded some 67 nuclear bombs in the Marshall Islands. This also included the explosion of the first hydrogen bomb ever in the history of the world. In layman's terms, you must first explode an atomic bomb as a trigger to explode a hydrogen bomb. The hydrogen bomb that the U.S. exploded in the Marshall Islands in 1954 was known as the Bravo Shot, and it was measured as a 15- megaton nuclear device, a thousand times more powerful than the atom bombs we dropped on Hiroshima and Nagasaki.

I submit to my colleagues in the House, at the height of the Cold War, the people of the Marshall Islands made tremendous sacrifices of their properties and, above all, of themselves after being exposed to nuclear radiation. To this day, our government, Mr. Speaker, with all its honor and glory, has not made good our promises to properly compensate these people for the loss of their properties and to provide adequate medical care, especially to those who were directly exposed to nuclear radiation as a result of our nuclear testing program.

In the near future, I will be proposing a bill that will address the needs of the people of the Marshall Islands as a result of our nuclear testing program, and I am hopeful that my colleagues will support me in this effort.

Some of my colleagues have asked me, why should the United States take an interest in these small islands out there in the middle of the Pacific? I need not repeat myself on the importance of these islands during World War II, and I have just shared with my colleagues the tremendous sacrifices the leaders and the people of the Marshall Islands made for the success of our nuclear testing program. I have also pointed out the shameful neglect on the part of our Nation to properly address the property rights and health care needs of these people who were exposed. All of them were exposed to nuclear radiation.

Having said this, I want to reemphasize the Pacific Islands were valuable to our Nation during World War II, and, believe me, these nations will be valuable to us again in the future. We fool ourselves if we believe we do not need allies in a volatile region that covers one-third of the world's surface.

We need the Pacific Island nations as they need us. The people of the Pacific nations do not want handouts, but they want equal treatment, respect, and economic assistance will be beneficial to them as well as to us. The seabed minerals within the exclusive economic zones of these island nations are worth hundreds of billions of dollars, but their potential use is priceless if together we can find ways to harness these resources. The same can be said of their fisheries and marine resources, which will continue to be an inestimable worth as the world struggles to feed a growing population.

There are many other areas in which we can work together if we can begin to establish even a USAID program in the Pacific region. As chairman of the House Foreign Affairs Subcommittee on Asia, the Pacific and the Global Environment, I look forward to working with my colleagues to bring about needed and necessary changes in our current relations with our Pacific Island neighbors.

On this historic occasion, Mr. Speaker, I also welcome these leaders to our Nation's Capital, and I urge my colleagues to support this proposed legislation.

Mr. Speaker, I reserve the balance of my time.

Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume.

I want to thank and commend my good friend, the gentleman from Texas, for a most eloquent statement and observations in terms of our relationship with these Pacific Island nations.

I recall years ago we took a congressional delegation. At that time, the chairman of our Asia and the Pacific Subcommittee of the Foreign Affairs Committee, Congressman Steve Solarz from New York; Congressman Bob Dornan from California; and myself. And we visited the various island nations and found out that we have become somewhat of a nation totally neglectful of our efforts to establish good relations with these island nations.

I recall we visited the Solomon Islands and specifically the Guadalcanal that most Americans have heard in the news of World War II, which was where some of the bloodiest battles were fought there by the Marines against Japanese forces. And in our efforts in trying to find out what can we do on behalf of our country in terms of how we can express a sense of token appreciation to the people of the Solomon Islands for the support they gave us during the famous battles that we had to endure during the war there in Guadalcanal. And in doing so, we came back and submitted to the Congress a proposal that what would be a good gesture on behalf of the people of America would be to build a parliamentary building for the Solomon Islands government. And in doing so, we provided the funding, and I was privileged and honored to accompany the good Senator from Rhode Island, Senator Chafee. And we went over to the Solomon Islands to dedicate this new parliamentary building and found out that Senator Chafee was a 19-year-old Marine fighting enemy forces in Guadalcanal, and it was quite a statement and a very moving experience that I had in noticing one of our national leaders, the great Senator from Rhode Island, revisited Guadalcanal where this battle was fought. And he was there as a 19-year-old Marine. And we did this, and the people of the Solomon Islands were very grateful that we were able to build this new parliamentary building as a token, as a gift, from the people of the United States to commemorate and to remember the tremendous sacrifices not only that our soldiers and our Marines made on these islands but also the support that the people of the Solomon Islands provided us in the war effort.

I also want to commend the Congress. I don't know if our colleagues are aware of the fact that, in 1960, Congress enacted special legislation to establish the East-West Center. And it was a tremendous effort to see what we could do to establish good relations between the East and the Asian countries and that of our own country. And that was the very purpose. To establish exchanges and to establish forums and symposiums to allow the leaders of the nations of Asia and the Pacific region to meet together with our leaders and to see if we could resolve some of the issues and problems confronting the region as well as our own Nation.

So with that, I wanted to just share those two points with our colleagues in the House.

Mr. Speaker, I yield 6 minutes to my good friend, the gentlewoman from the Territory of Guam (Ms. Bordallo).

Mr. Speaker, may I inquire as to how much time I have remaining.

I just wanted to add, as a matter of history here, it was during the 1970s, then-chairman of the House Subcommittee on Territories, the late Congressman Phillip Burton from San Francisco, who initiated the move in terms of finding out how the East-West Center was doing as far as the Pacific Islands were concerned. And as a result of the assistance also from then former Congresswoman Yvonne Brathwaite Burke, who served as a member of the Appropriations Committee, there was greater attention given to the needs of the Pacific Island nations. And I want to commend certainly the former Governor of the State of Hawaii, Governor George Ariyoshi, and the late Prime Minister of Fiji, Sir Ratu Kamisese Mara, for the outstanding leadership that they displayed and demonstrated in establishing this special program now allotting to the needs of our Pacific Island nations. Certainly Governor John Waihee and also Governor Linda Lingle were also very supportive of this effort.

Mr. Speaker, I want to thank again my colleague from Texas for his compliments and the remarks concerning this resolution. And, again, I urge my colleagues to support this resolution.

Mr. Speaker, I yield back the balance of my time.

Mr. Speaker, I rise today in support of House Resolution 355, a resolution recognizing and welcoming the leaders of the Pacific Islands to Washington, D.C., and commending the East-West Center for hosting the Pacific Islands Conference of Leaders.

I am encouraged by the strong support that Congress continues to display toward promoting closer political, economic and cultural ties among the islands and the countries of the Pacific region. This resolution is evidence of the East-West Center's excellent work toward facilitating the achievement of those goals.

We have the unique honor this week of hosting a State visit by the Queen of England. She and her husband, Prince Phillip, began their 6- day trip to the United States in Virginia last week. Notably, the Queen addressed the State's General Assembly and visited Jamestown, which is observing the 400th anniversary of the founding of the first permanent English settlement in the Americas.

Indeed, Great Britain and the United States enjoy close, special relations established in revolution, forged in world wars and tempered by peace and economic growth. This is a relationship to cherish. But let us not forget that the United States is fortunate to have formed special relationships elsewhere in the world. Those relationships are similarly important, especially those that we share with the islands of the Pacific region.

Like with Great Britain, the United States shares an ocean with its friends in the Pacific. But we also share common histories, culture and, among other things, a great desire for peace and economic security and prosperity that forge indelible bonds between our peoples. House Resolution 355 recognizes this. The resolution notes the United States is a Pacific nation, and I could not agree more wholeheartedly and firmly. The gaze of the United States must be west. The Pacific Century is undoubtedly upon us, and we are fortunate to have such strong friendships and alliances established there.

The eighth meeting of the Pacific Islands Conference of Leaders, which will occur this week in Washington, D.C., is evidence of the strong relationship that exists between the United States and the islands of the Pacific. The Pacific Islands Conference of Leaders, hosted by the East-West Center with the support of the Department of State, is comprised of 20 heads of government from the Pacific Islands region and meets once every 3 years. The conference members include: American Samoa, the Cook Islands, the Federated States of Micronesia, Fiji Islands, French Polynesia, Guam, Hawaii, Kiribati, the Marshall Islands, Nauru, New Caledonia, Niue, the Northern Mariana Islands, Palau, Papua New Guinea, Samoa, the Solomon Islands, Tonga, Tuvalu, Vanuatu.

Notably, this is the first time the Pacific Islands Conference of Leaders has been held in Washington, and that the commitment of the United States to the conference could not be stronger or broader is encouraging. Very encouraging.

Interagency delegations to the conference this week will include representatives from the Department of State, the Department of Defense, the United States Agency for International Development, the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, the United States Coast Guard, the Peace Corps and the Millennium Challenge Corporation. These representatives' participation during the conference will further enhance the already excellent work on the part of their departments and agencies within the region.

Mr. Speaker, we owe special thanks to the East-West Center for its efforts to organize this event. The East-West Center is an education and research organization established by the United States Congress in 1960 in order to strengthen relations and understandings achieved between the United States and the peoples and the countries of Asia and the Pacific.

As noted in House Resolution 355, the center successfully contributes to a peaceful, a prosperous and a just Asia-Pacific community by serving as a vigorous hub for cooperative research, education and dialogue on critical issues of common concern to the Asia-Pacific region and the United States.

The East-West Center has established for itself a strong reputation as an ideal forum for emerging leaders and regional specialists to discuss issues and strengthen relations with their colleagues, and I strongly support their ongoing efforts in this regard.

Representing Guam at the Pacific Islands Conference of Leaders will be the Honorable Felix Camacho, the Governor of Guam, and accompanying him will be his wife, our first lady of Guam, Joann Camacho. I welcome them to our Nation's capital and wish them the best during their discussions with their colleagues from the region.

Guam, both the United States territory and a Pacific Island, is a leader in the region economically, politically and in terms of regional security. Guam, and the perspective of its people, will continue to have a unique and influential role in the region in the years to come as a result of the changing posture of the United States military in the Asia-Pacific region and the increased economic activity that is planned for the island in the coming years. I sincerely hope that the relationship that Guam shares with its Pacific Island partners will grow stronger during this period.

And, finally, Mr. Speaker, I want to thank and recognize our distinguished colleague from American Samoa, Mr. Faleomavaega, for his leadership as chairman of the Subcommittee on Asia and the Pacific, and the Global Environment. We are all indebted to him for his command of the issues of concern to our allies in the Pacific and for his leadership in strengthening United States foreign defense and economic policy.

I urge adoption of House Resolution 355.

Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume.

Mr. Speaker, I want to thank the gentleman from American Samoa for sponsorship of this resolution and Mr. Lantos, the chairman, and the ranking member from Florida (Ms. Ros-Lehtinen).

Today I rise to offer my endorsement of a resolution that recognizes the enduring ties of the United States and

the Pacific Island nations. Our Nation's links with the Pacific Islands extend back to the earliest days of the American Republic, when New England whalers, symbolized by Captain Ahab, sailed in the South Pacific. In those early days, clipper ships also set sail from American ports across the Pacific in pursuit of the China trade. American missionaries soon followed, journeying to the Pacific Islands to deepen the cultural and religious ties between our two peoples.

Our bonds to our Pacific neighbors have been further enhanced by their ethnic and historic links to our 50th State, Hawaii, America's gateway to the Pacific.

When war came to the Pacific at Pearl Harbor on that day of infamy, December 7, 1941, the peoples of the Pacific joined the United States in turning back the threat of the invader. It was two Solomon Islanders who bravely carried a coconut hidden in a canoe through enemy lines with the immortal words: ``Commander . . . native knows position . . . he can pilot . . . 11 alive . . . need small boat . . . Kennedy.''

The rescue of the crew of PT-109, including a future President of the United States, John F. Kennedy, is remembered as one of the great epic stories of the war in the Pacific.

In the six decades since the end of that war, our diplomatic, commercial and cultural ties have grown steadily with our Pacific neighbors. One legacy of the American President rescued by the Pacific Islanders has been the Peace Corps, which has sent volunteers to work together with the peoples of the Pacific for the past 40 years.

The East-West Center in Hawaii, established by the United States Congress in 1960, has been a vital source for cultural and academic exchange and for a dialogue on critical issues of mutual concern. The center has played a pivotal role in cementing the ties between the peoples of the United States and the peoples of the Pacific Islands. I commend the center for hosting the Pacific Island Conference of Leaders here in Washington, D.C. Therefore, I welcome the opportunity to offer my strong and enthusiastic support for House Resolution 355, welcoming America's good friends, the leaders of the Pacific Islands, to Washington, D.C.

I offer them and the people of the Pacific a warm welcome of ``aloha.''

Mr. Speaker, I reserve the balance of my time.

Mr. Speaker, I yield myself as much time as I may consume.

Mr. Speaker, I want to once again commend the gentleman from American Samoa for not only bringing forth this resolution, but his work in educating the American public on the Pacific Islands and the need for cooperation with the United States and the Pacific Islands.

He mentioned the Solomon Islands during World War II. The Solomon Islands, among many other island nations in the Pacific, helped the United States combat imperialism. And when the American troops left those islands, many of those nations had to suffer continuously for the destruction that occurred on their islands. And of course there are still Americans who are volunteering from American Samoa and Guam fighting in our American forces overseas. And some Americans sometimes forget that these two areas of our country help in the great war on terror. So I want to commend him for bringing this resolution, and I support the adoption of House Resolution 355.

With that, Mr. Speaker, I yield back the balance of my time.

Mr. Speaker, I rise today to support H. Res. 355, a resolution recognizing and welcoming the leaders of the Pacific Islands to Washington, D.C., and commending the East-West Center for hosting the Pacific Islands Conference of Leaders.

The United States has always had a unique relationship to the Pacific Islands. Not only do they help play a key role in the fight against terrorism, but these governments also aid the U.S. in its overall security. Furthermore, both the U.S. and the Pacific Islands rely on the vast resources of the Pacific basin; these resources while enormous are not unlimited, and management requires cooperation across all of our governments. These islands also work closely with the U.S. on an important environmental and security concern, global climate change, which has the potential to drastically affect all who depend on the Pacific for their livelihood. Furthermore, trade, tourism, and other economic ties further reveal the interdependence between the Pacific Islands and the U.S. The resolution before us recognizes these factors.

As we mark Asian Pacific American (APA) Heritage month, we would also be remiss to not point out that Americans of Pacific Island decent are a rapidly growing ethnic group within the U.S. They add strength to our communities with their diversity and values, and they make important contributions to the U.S. as a whole. The resolution also mentions this important fact.

Furthermore, the resolution discusses the importance of the East-West Center, which runs the Conference of Leaders. Congress established the East-West Center, which is based in my district, in 1960. The East-West Center seeks to establish a dialogue between the peoples and nations of Asia, the Pacific, and the U.S. The East-West Center provides a home for academics who perform vital research that helps all parties better understand each other's history and culture. The Center's Education and Outreach sphere helps disseminate what researchers learn to the broader public and to policymakers. Finally, the Center provides important dialogue programs. Under the effective leadership of Dr. Charles Morrison, the East-West Center continues to address the challenges of the Asian-Pacific 21st Century.

Established in 1980 the East-West Center's Pacific Islands Conference of Leaders grows out of these dialogue programs. It seeks to bring together leaders from the region to discuss many of the issues I mentioned earlier. In the era of growing interdependence between the U.S. and Pacific Island governments, both the work of the Center and the Conference of Leaders becomes more important.

I urge my colleagues to support both this resolution, and provide continued support to the East-West Center.

Mr. Speaker, I rise today in support of House Resolution 355 welcoming the Leaders from the Pacific Island nations to the Eighth Pacific Island Conference being held in Washington. I commend my distinguished friend and colleague, Chairman Faleomavaega, for introducing this resolution.

The United States and the Pacific Island nations share strong economic and cultural ties

that have endured the test of time. The triennial meeting of the Pacific Island Conference is an important event that allows the U.S. to reaffirm its friendship and ties with the 20 nations participating in the Conference. This year's meeting will take place in Washington, DC, for the first time.

Our friends in the Pacific Island nations have stood by us steadfastly during the darkest moments of this Nation's history. A great number of the sons and daughters from the Marshall Islands, Micronesia, and Palau currently serve in the U.S. Armed Forces. They stand side by side with volunteers from American Samoa, the Northern Marianas, Guam, Hawaii, and other states to protect our freedom.

America's ties with the countries in the South Pacific date back centuries from the early days when American whalers sought safety in Fiji and Tonga and continuing through to the Pacific campaign during World War II. To this day, Pacific Island nations represent some of America's strongest allies at the United Nations.

I applaud the Administration and the East West Center for elevating the importance of this year's Pacific Island Conference to the highest level by holding it in our nation's capitol. I look forward to meeting with the Leaders during their visit to Congress.