美國願向中國出租北馬裏亞納群島（塞班）土地。 (圖)

2011-10-22 (China Military News cited from AFP) -- The cash-strapped Northern Mariana Islands, a US territory in the Western Pacific, has offered to lease land to China as long as it is not used for military purposes.

Northern Marianas Governor Benigno Fitial made the offer during a US-China Governors Forum in Beijing this week which discussed potential investment and job creation opportunities.

In a statement released Saturday, Fitial said his island-lease offer referred to land in uninhabited islands which can be leased except for military purposes.

The Northern Marianas already leases an island to the US military which uses it for regular live bombing exercises.

A self-governing commonwealth of the United States since 1976, the islands are in the grip of a severe budget crisis following the collapse of their garment industry.

In an attempt to combat the cash shortage all government departments are now shut every Friday, with essential exceptions such as the public hospital.

A spokesman for Fitial, Angel Demapan, said the governor wanted to do business with the Chinese to alleviate economic hardship.

Fitial pitched the Northern Marianas as a prime destination for Chinese tourism, real estate development, agricultural, education and technology investments.

In his statement, Fitial said the acting governor of the Chinese province of Yunnan, Li Jiheng, planned to make an exploratory visit to the islands, while Anhui Governor Wang Sanyun said he was committed to a partnership.

The Northern Marianas consists of 15 islands, with more than 90 percent of the population of 54,000 living on Saipan and only four other islands being populated.

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10月20日，國家旅遊局副局長祝善忠在京會見了北馬裏亞納群島（塞班）總督本尼格諾 費迪諾和關島總督艾迪 卡爾沃一行。雙方就旅遊合作、交通及簽證等共同關心的問題進行了深入友好的交談。

祝善忠說，美國是中國重要的客源市場，預計到2015年，中美兩國雙向交流人數將達500萬人次。祝善忠說，過去三十年中國經濟發展迅速，人民生活日益改善。去年，中國公民出國訪問人數達5740萬人次，中國成為第三大出境旅遊消費國。

祝善忠對塞班和關島在旅遊安全和簽證等方麵所做的工作表示讚賞。中國和北馬裏亞納群島（塞班）、關島距離較近，如果簽證與交通便利程度得到改善，將極大激發中國遊客前往旅遊的熱情。

費迪諾與卡爾沃均表示將更加注重中國市場，提升針對中國遊客的旅遊設施建設和服務水平，推動美國政府在簽證方麵作出努力，讓更多的中國遊客前往旅遊。