Ready for a Chinese attack on Taiwan: The Pentagon is investing in the expansion of military infrastructure on a small Pacific island.
San Jose – A sparsely inhabited island in the middle of the Pacific between Japan, Taiwan and Papua New Guinea, 4,000 kilometers west of Hawaii: During World War II, Tinian was an important US air force base. The planes that dropped the atomic bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki and forced the Japanese to surrender took off from there. Since then, the jungle has reclaimed its territory.
USA reworks former World War II air force base
Until now: As the American news magazine Newsweek reported, satellite images show that former runways are being uncovered step by step. Since January, according to Newsweek Dozens of hectares of land have already been cleared of nature, so that regional flight exercises can already take place. It is still unclear when exactly the work will be completed.
Only 2,000 kilometers from Taiwan, China and other important destinations in Asia, the island is a strategically important base. The USA is apparently preparing for a conflict with China here if the latter attacks Taiwan. The People’s Republic considers Taiwan an essential part of its territory. Its democracy is one of the most stable in Asia, with the EU Taipei has a close economic relationship. However, the country hardly maintains any official diplomatic relations – most of its partners do not recognize Taiwan as an independent state.
Air Force prepares for possible conflict with China
The EU and the USA are critical of a possible “reintegration”, as it is called in Chinese propaganda, of Taiwan under the rule of the government in Beijing. This is also why the American Department of Defense criticized China in the report on “Pacific Deterrence Initiative” as a priority challenge.
The government in Washington wants to invest ten billion US dollars in deterrence measures. This includes creating a “stable security architecture” in the Pacific and increasing and improving the American military presence and infrastructure in the region. As part of this, the runways in Tinian will also be improved to accommodate more aircraft, as Capt. Keith Pedon, spokesman for the Pacific Air Forces, told Newsweek testified.
The small island of Tinian is one of the three main islands of the Northern Mariana Islands. Today they are part of the American overseas territory with independent administration. Until the end of the First World War they (with the exception of Guam) belonged to the German colonies in the Pacific, the so-called “German South Seas”. As of 2000, 3,540 people lived on the island – there may soon be more planes than inhabitants. (uh)
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