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NSC Indo-Pacific policy coordinator Kurt Campbell says the Pacific could be the region for ‘strategic surprises’
U.S. national security officials said in recent days that the Pacific could be the region for a “strategic surprise.” China’s upgrading of airport facilities and other infrastructure projects in the South Pacific island nation of Kiribati has also drawn attention from Japan.
Kurt Campbell, the National Security Council’s Indo-Pacific policy coordinator, recently commented that the Pacific could be the region for “strategic surprises.” According to the analysis, Campbell’s remarks allude to China’s plan to create a “foothold” in the Pacific islands.
Campbell told a discussion at the Center for Strategic and International Studies think tank in Washington that the U.S. has “enormous moral, strategic, historical interests” in the Pacific, but is not doing enough to help the region, not doing enough as Australia and New Zealand have done .
He also said, “The next year or two is the most worrying thing. We don’t have much time left. We should step up our cooperation with partner countries with Pacific interests such as Australia, New Zealand, Japan, and France, and strengthen our efforts.”
Kiribati Airport
While Campbell did not elaborate further on his comments, lawmakers from the Pacific island Republic of Kiribati told Reuters last year that China planned to upgrade airstrips on the coral atolls there and also planned to build bridges.
Kiribati is located 3,000 kilometers southwest of the U.S. state of Hawaii.
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Commented that Australia obtained advanced submarines with the help of Britain and the United States so that in the future the Australian submarine force could compete with Chinese submarines
Japanese scholar Bunji Abe recently told the American media that Kiribati’s strategic location in the central Pacific is extremely important, and if it is placed under the influence of China, it will pose a threat to the strategic transportation of the United States, Australia, Japan and Taiwan.
Recently, many Japanese media reported that Japan will open an embassy in Kiribati in 2022. Analysts say that countering China’s regional influence has pushed Japan to consider this diplomatic move.
However, the above reports have not been confirmed by Japanese officials.
Kiribati has followed the United States and its allies closely since World War II, but a Chinese facility there on a small island called Kanton will provide China with a foothold.
Kiribati said in May last year that China’s plans were non-military projects aimed at improving the country’s transportation and boosting tourism. But opposition figures questioned China’s intentions and the project’s role, fearing it could be used for military purposes, and said the government had not clarified how China would finance the project.
Australia-UK-US Security Treaty
Campbell also highlighted the so-called “AUKUS” treaty, a new defense and security pact signed by Australia, the United Kingdom and the United States, at a discussion at the Center for Strategic and International Studies think tank in Washington. He also mentioned summits held in the United States, Australia, India and Japan as an illustration of the anxiety that a U.S. partnership creates for China.
Australia, the United Kingdom and the United States announced the establishment of the above-mentioned military partnership in September last year. The main purpose is that the United Kingdom and the United States will help Australia build a nuclear submarine force and contribute to the new Indo-Pacific strategic cooperation.
Ross Babbage, a former Australian defense official at the time, said that Australia’s acquisition of advanced submarines with the help of Britain and the United States was so that Australia’s submarine force could compete with Chinese submarines in the future.
Indo-Pacific Economic Framework?
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Kiribati has followed the United States and its allies closely since World War II, but a Chinese facility there on a small island called Canton would provide China with a foothold in Kiribati
Campbell told a discussion at the Center for Strategic and International Studies that the United States and its allies need to do more in the Pacific, including in the areas of dealing with the coronavirus, fishing and investing in clean energy.
The United States withdrew from the Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership (CPTPP) when Trump took office in 2017, and China is the largest trading partner of many Asian countries, so many Asian countries complained that the United States did not invest enough in the economy of the Asia-Pacific region.
President Biden told Asian leaders in October that Washington would initiate talks to create an Indo-Pacific economic framework, but offered few specifics.