If China goes after Taiwan without ‘disabling’ Palau, its Taiwan operation could be jeopardized. Which is one of the reasons the U.S. is putting new military infrastructure, or, in some cases, bringing back to life World War II era infrastructure, in Palau.
China in Southeast Asia and the Pacific Islands
China has increased its presence in Oceania, undermining regional confidence in the United States and threatening sea lines critical for Australia’s and New Zealand’s security. On February 22, China...
Excerpt Guam and the Commonwealth of Northern Mariana Islands (CNMI)—constituent parts of the United States—sit in such proximity to the Asian coast that the CNMI shares a maritime border with Japan....
Nine days after D-Day, on June 15, 1944, the Battle of Saipan erupted on the other side of the world. It was to be as pivotal for the Pacific Theater as D-Day was for the war in Europe. Eighty years...
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NATO provisions don’t include security guarantees for American Pacific Territories. But other U.S. treaty allies do—which is why this week’s meetings in D.C. are so important
Lourdes A. Leon Guerrero, the Governor of Guam, a US territory, is not just waiting for the rest of the US to come save them. In this interview conducted in July, she describes some of the initiatives she is hoping to get off the ground so Guam is better able to defend itself.
‘The Northern Marianas economy continues to struggle, and the government remains in deep fiscal distress. These are conditions that make the commonwealth acutely vulnerable to CCP exploitation’.
China is the biggest winner from the current train wreck that is the Marshall Islands–United States COFA negotiations.
While the U.S. has been focused on preparing for the kinetic warfare battlefield, China has been registering big wins on the political warfare battlefield. You can see it all over the Pacific Islands.
Indo-Pacific Task Force
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The last two weeks have seen some of the most frantic US activity related to the Pacific Islands since the end of World War II. A lot happened. It’s like a plane suddenly dropped a cargo of randomly-sized boulders into a lake with varied depths. Some initiatives will sink, others may become essential islands of security in rough weather, some might inadvertently hit and sink the boats of allies.
Fiji’s capital Suva is turning into Vienna in the 1930s, when ‘diplomats’ from around the world spied on each other and sent cables home about who was sleeping with whom. Meanwhile, across the border, the war machine was roaring into life.
China is serious about capturing Taiwan as they need it to break the first island chain. At the same time, Beijing is using political warfare to try to burrow into the second and third island chains.
A Plan to Defend Taiwan Within the Decade
The Chinese Communist Party’s Subnational Interests in the United States
Most leaders in the region want closer relationships with other democracies, especially in economic development, education, and health care, so that they have option to China’s CNP (Comprehensive National Power) onslaught.