By Mar-Vic Cagurangan
Variety News Staff

THE Pentagon is building troops on Guam because the island would be a perfect launching pad in a possible showdown with China, according to an article published in the Feb. 27 issue of Newsweek magazine, quoting a defense analyst.
“The larger strategic rationale (for the shift) can be summed up in one word, and that’s ‘China’,” Newsweek quoted Honolulu-based defense analyst Richard Halloran as saying. “They (the Bush administration) don’t want to contain China, and they couldn’t. What they are trying to do is to deter the Chinese. That’s what the buildup on Guam is all about.”
The Newsweek article titled “America’s Unsinkable Fleet” focuses on the military expansion on Guam, which is “fast becoming the linchpin of Washington’s new Asia strategy.”
“Guam offers the U.S. military both proximity to potential hot spots and the advantages of operating off U.S. soil. The transfer of forces to the island also reflects the Pentagon’s determination to give regional allies such as South Korea and Japan more responsibility for their own security,” Newsweek says.
The shift to Guam, according to the article, was consistent with former Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld’s concept of the “lily-pad strategy,” which involves the creation of “a global network of jumping-off points for quick responses to unpredictable attacks.”
“Current U.S. forces on the island number just a few thousands but within a decade will total well over 20,000—about the same size as the Bush administration’s planned surge in Iraq. By comparison, there are some 29,000 U.S. troops left in South Korea; yet, despite the dangers of a nuclear-armed North, that number is expected to drop significantly,” Newsweek writes.
As has been repeatedly noted by Pentagon and Washington officials, Guam is well positioned for possible trouble to come, considering its proximity to the main islands of Japan, Okinawa, Indonesia and the Philippines.
Guam’s new capabilities, Newsweek says, are designed for more than just low-intensity conflicts. “The attack submarines that will soon be based there, for example, probably wouldn’t be much use in a conflict with North Korea or Qaeda-allied terrorists in the Philippines; the presence of the subs, experts say, is clearly aimed at the possibility of a naval confrontation with China over the Taiwan Strait.”
“Guam’s significance as a regional base and stepping stone for U.S. military power therefore seems set to grow exponentially,” Newsweek concludes. “If, as many in the region predict, the 21st century ends up belonging to the nations of the Pacific—and conflict in the region rises—Guam will have to get used to being in the headlines.”