A 1,005 sq KM chain of US-controlled islands in the Pacific Ocean is shaping up to be a focal point in Washington and Beijing’s ongoing jockeying for global influence.
The Mariana Islands in the north-western Pacific, comprising the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands (CNMI) and Guam, were once seen as “the tip of the spear” of American power projection in the region – but China’s influence is growing across the area through deep-sea research and what was once the world’s most lucrative casino.
“Wars and conflicts never start on Fifth Avenue, they start in places of limited strategic consequence [such as the Mariana Islands],” said Patrick Gerard Buchan, fellow at the Washington-based think tank Centre for Strategic and International Studies. “That is where great powers rub up against each other.”