THREAD: #China plans to revive strategic Pacific airstrip, #Kiribati lawmaker says
A base in Kiribati Islands, in the central area of the Pacific ocean, 3,000Km from Hawaii & in the rear of #Guam can be a game changer, disrupt #US efforts to contain China
reuters.com/article/us-chi…
A base in Kiribati Islands, in the central area of the Pacific ocean, 3,000Km from Hawaii & in the rear of #Guam can be a game changer, disrupt #US efforts to contain China
reuters.com/article/us-chi…
2) The plans, which have not been made public, involve construction on the tiny island of Kanton (also spelled Canton), a coral atoll strategically located midway between Asia and the Americas.
3) Despite being small, Kiribati, a nation of 120,000 residents, controls one of the biggest exclusive economic zones in the world, covering more than 3.5 million square kilometres of the Pacific.
4) The Australian Strategic Policy Institute (ASPI) said in a paper last year that Chinese facilities on Kiribati would be positioned across major sea lanes between North America, and Australia and New Zealand.
5) Any significant build-up on Kanton, located 3,000 kilometres (1,864 miles) southwest of Hawaii and U.S. military bases there, would offer a foothold to China deep into territory that had been firmly aligned to the U.S. and its allies since World War Two.
6) Kanton has been used by the U.S. for space and missile tracking operations and its near 2-kilometre (6,562 ft) runway hosted long-range bombers during the war. 
7) “The island would be a fixed aircraft carrier,” said one adviser to Pacific governments, who declined to be named because of the sensitivity of the project.
The map shows the strategic location of #Kiribati & the threat it poses to #Hawaii & #Guam
The map shows the strategic location of #Kiribati & the threat it poses to #Hawaii & #Guam
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