LISBON, Nov. 16 (Xinhua) -- President of Portugal's Azores regional government, Vasco Cordeiro, on Thursday questioned the U.S. commitment to the air base on Portuguese Lajes Island in the middle of the North Atlantic Ocean.
Cordeiro was responding to a statement made by the Portuguese Minister for Foreign Affairs, Augusto Santos Silva, on Wednesday. Santos Silva had told the Portuguese parliament that the 2018 U.S. defense budget pledged to seek "additional uses for its military presence" on the island.
But Cordeiro told local reporters that it was not a pledge, but a recommendation. The wording was important, he said, because recommendations are not legally binding.
The 2018 budget therefore represents a retreat, given that previous budgets had laid commitment to the base down in law.
In 2015, the United States announced that it would gradually wind down its operations in Lajes. The economic implications of the decision are of grave concern to Portugal.
The situation seemed to have changed when President Donald Trump took office. The Trump administration has proposed extra spending on defense and vowed not to withdraw from Lajes.
