In the coming years, the United States will have to make difficult decisions in spaces similar to its foreign policy and national security commitments.
Fortunately, there’s a simple call to make. Invest in the Pacific Islands; In particular, the Federated States of Micronesia, the Marshall Islands and Palau.
While consultations are being held to expand the agreements that codified its special appointments with the United States, Congress delves into enough details to temporarily approve them when the time comes.
The United States is a resident force in the Western Pacific, only because the region’s governments, deftly Japan and South Korea, welcome their forces, nor because the U. S. Navy is a constant and (for all, China and North Korea)) reassuring presence.
It is “resident” because Guam, the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands and American Samoa are part of the United States. Voters send representatives to Congress and participate in the presidential primaries.
In Guam, the United States operates Guam Naval Base and Andersen Air Force Base. The naval base is the port of the home of four Los Angeles-class attack submarines and U. S. Navy submarine tenders. But it’s not the first time Andersen welcomes the U. S. bombers, B-1, B-2, and B-52s, when deployed from the United States.
Guam, which already houses a total of about 7,000 soldiers, is gaining more from the restructuring of U. S. forces in Okinawa, Japan, a resolution funded largely through the Japanese government.
Americans are more familiar with the Northern Mariana Islands through the names of their two main islands, Saipan and Tinian. Saipan is the site of a critical World War II war that claimed the lives of 3,000 Americans and 27,000 Japanese. Tinian is where the atomic bombs dropped on Hiroshima and Nagasaki were loaded.
What makes these islands so vital is what made them so vital at the time; that is, geography. They are components of the “second chain of islands”, a line of territories ranging from Japan to Papua New Guinea.
America’s presence there prevents the islands from serving as a springboard to China’s global ambitions, while further south, American Samoa lies between the United States and its security ally, Australia.
In addition to those parts of America – and other parts of the un populous territory scattered throughout the Pacific – the United States also maintains special relations with 3 sovereign island nations in the region: Micronesia, the Marshall Islands and Palau. These freely related Pacific states were directly administered throughout the United States after World War II as United Nations trusts. Today, they are connected to the United States through Free Association Pacts.
Under these agreements, the U. S. military is free to operate on the islands and deny access to the military corps of workers from other countries, and is also obliged to protect them.
Like American Samoa, the Marshall Islands are located along primary logistics routes between the United States and Asia/Australia. Ronald Reagan’s ballistic missile defense site, which is home to the US military, is home to the U. S. military. for area operations. “
Palau and Micronesia have similar geographical importance. Palau, in fact, is part of the aforementioned “second chain of islands”. The United States is running with them to provide the generation and education they want to further monitor maritime traffic in their surroundings. Earlier this year, Palau’s president proposed to house U. S. army bases, a hospitality that takes for granted in a region of the world amid U. S. -China competition.
In Micronesia, the United States plans a detour airfield to Guam if necessary.
In exchange for these geostrategic gems, the United States spends less than $300 million a year on aid, a small amount for the U. S. military, and diplomatic budgets.
However, the pacts expire, in 2023 in the case of the Marshall Islands and Micronesia and in 2024 in the case of Palau.
The price seems to have been lost to the Trump administration. Following renewed interest throughout the Pacific Islands region through the Obama administration, the Trump administration has doubled its involvement.
His commitment to the most productive freely related states was symbolized through a 2019 assembly at the White House, the first between the president of the United States and his counterparts from the 3 island democracies.
In 2019, Mike Pompeo became Micronesia’s first secretary of state and Mark Esper became Palau’s first secretary of defense; Veterans Affairs Secretary Robert Wilkie also led the area; and the administration has opened consultations to expand the presence of the United States.
The importance of the Pacific Islands to the United States comes and goes with history, and in the early 20th century, they have become key nodes in the emergence of America as a wonderful power, building an army worthy of its new status. by the mid-20th century, they were at the center of the war with Japan for the Pacific, now emerging at the U. S. -China geostrategic festival.
Aligned with the United States, they China. Aligned with China, would allow their ambitions to take the United States out of the region.
The U. S. territorial presence in Guam, the Northern Mariana Islands and American Samoa is evident. Free settlement pacts require political decisions in Washington to remain in place. As Congress approaches these decisions, they deserve to take into account completely the massive market that is America’s relations with freely related states.
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