US to build £8bn super base on Pacific island of Guam

www.telegraph.co.uk ^ | 10/25/2010 | Praveen Swami

[rxsid]

"US to build £8bn super base on Pacific island of Guam
The US is building an £8 billion super military base on the Pacific island of Guam in an attempt to contain China's military build-up.

A B-1B Lancer takes off from Andersen Air Force Base in Guam in 2003

The expansion will include a dock for a nuclear-powered aircraft carrier, a missile defence system, live-fire training sites and the expansion of the island's airbase. It will be the largest investment in a military base in the western Pacific since the Second World War, and the biggest spend on naval infrastructure in decades.

However, Guam residents fear the build-up could hurt their ecosystem and tourism-dependent economy.

Estimates suggest that the island's population will rise by almost 50 per cent from its current 173,000 at the peak of construction. It will eventually house 19,000 Marines who will be relocated from the Japanese island of Okinawa, where the US force has become unpopular.

...

Local residents' concerns, however, have been sidelined by the US-China strategic competition. China has significantly expanded its fleet during the past decade, seeking to deter the US from intervening militarily in any future conflict over Taiwan, which Beijing claims as its own, and to project power across disputed territories in the gas and oil-rich South China Sea.

Beijing's naval build-up is also intended secure the sea lanes from the Middle East, from where China will import an estimated 70-80 per cent of its oil needs by 2035 supplies it fears US could choke in the event of a conflict.

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http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/australiaandthepacific/guam/8085749/US-to-build-8bn-super-base-on-Pacific-island-of-Guam.html

[bert]

Find and read “The Shattered Sword” by Parshall/Tully and learn the imprecision of your historical knowledge.

It was recommended to me by the FReeper Non Sequitor and is a fabulous and accurate account of the Midway battle from the Japanese side. It casts a completely new light on the minute by minute actions.

I am rereading it after a fantastic visit to the Naval Air Museum in Pensacola last week. (recommended if you get a chance)