Commentary
Flanks are important in military operations and struggles between civilizations. Simply put, they’re the left and right endpoints of the defense against the opposition. America wouldn’t be a nation today if it weren’t for Col. Joshua Chamberlain at Little Round Top who defeated the Confederate attempt to sweep around the Union left flank at Gettysburg on July 2, 1863 (earning the Medal of Honor).
Flanks can be literal and geographic, or they can be figurative and representative. While much of America focuses on out-of-control inflation, crime, secretive promotion of transgenderism, and diminishing numbers of Javelin and HIMARs missiles, the Chinese communists are conducting a literal and figurative end run around the American left flank in the Pacific.
The Solomon’s Fall Behind the CCP ‘Iron Curtain’ in the Pacific
The Solomon Islands—the same where Marine Sgt. John Basilone earned the Medal of Honor in October 1942 and perhaps saved the entire American war effort in the Pacific by stopping the Japanese attempt to flank the Marine defenses of Henderson Field on Guadalcanal—are in some ways the left flank of the American defense line in the Pacific. Now the Solomon Island Chain, just above Australia has apparently fallen behind the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) Iron Curtain in the Pacific.There’s great internal unrest within the Solomon Island population against the existing Prime Minister Manessah Sogavare, who was saved from being deposed by civil unrest in late 2021 by an
illogical Australian “peacekeeping” mission. This effort had the unintended consequence of solidifying Sogavare’s hold on power and his Belt and Road ties with China. Earlier this year, the Solomon’s stopped visits by
“foreign navy” ships after not responding to requested visits from U.S. Coast Guard and British Navy ships.
This confusing policy situation of the government of the Solomon Islands appears to be fueled by the presence of Chinese emissaries of civil-military fusion companies. In an attempt to outwit concerns of a CCP paramilitary presence, Solomon Island police elements are
going to China for training. Regardless of whether they’re trained in China or trained by China in the Solomon Islands, the strategic outcome and message are the same: The Solomon Islands are now a CCP tributary state behind the American left flank in the Pacific.
In the strategic geography of the Pacific, the Solomon Islands are an end around the Second Island Chain, which consists of Palau, Ulithi, Guam, Tinian, and Saipan. The Biden administration should be working overtime to address this situation. There has been a promise of a new U.S. embassy and a dedicated versus shared U.S. ambassador in the Solomon Islands, but that’s several years away.
The All-Important ‘Second Island Chain’
The Second Island Chain is the chain of Islands from where American naval and air forces will generate and project force to deter or counter an overt CCP invasion of Taiwan. Indo-Pacific Command now has a dedicated fund called the
Pacific Deterrence Initiative (PDI) of approximately $27 billion over five years to build up capabilities on the Second Island Chain of Palau, Ulithi, Guam, Tinian, and Saipan. European Command has had a similar fund since 2014.
Guam is a relatively mature naval and air base and American Territory. However, much needs to be done to provide dispersal pads and hardened aircraft shelters to the airfields. The generous harbor has much space, but it needs to re-constitute a naval ship repair facility so that damaged naval vessels can be rapidly regenerated back into action. The island is within range of the Chinese DF-26 ballistic missiles, so it can be presumed that this
U.S. Territory will receive a significant bombardment upon any CCP move on Taiwan. Therefore,
additional ballistic and hypersonic missile defense is needed post-haste.
Tinian is being developed as an
alternate airfield to support additional aircraft surged to the Second Island Chain or in case existing airfields on Guam are inoperable. Saipan already has a major airfield that can provide additional ramp space for more aircraft.
The other two major islands in the Second Island Chain are Palau, part of the Republic of Palau and Ulithi, an atoll of the Federated States of Micronesia (FSM). A new agreement has been established with the FSM for a new military presence, very possibly on Ulithi. Ulithi once hosted the largest naval force in world history as the combined American and British fleets assembled in this grand atoll before the final move on Japan in World War II.
The president of the FSM, David Panuelo, has expressed
grave concerns about the Solomon Islands’ pact with China. Palau is working closely with the United States to
re-constitute significant air and naval base infrastructure, including a long-range radar site. Palau is the traditional left flank of the Second Island Chain, and the CCP presence in the Solomon Islands places them behind Palau, thus establishing an end around the Second Island Chain.
The Immediate Need for Clear and Demonstrable Deterrence in the Pacific
Although the U.S. Indo-Pacific Command is beginning the PDI to build up the Second Island Chain for deterrence against any invasion of Taiwan, this will take years, and the CCP Party Congress has just ended. The topic of Taiwan submitting to the CCP was front and center. The CCP schedule for forcing Taiwan to submit may be faster compared to what the U.S. PDI timeline presumes.
The Solomon Islands have gone dark behind the CCP Iron Curtain in the Pacific, and a CCP presence in the Solomon Islands has geographically flanked the U.S. military and diplomatic positions on the Second Island Chain. A creative, modern, and figurative “Chamberlain’s Charge” using diplomatic and economic instruments of national power is necessary now to address the CCP’s attempt to turn the left flank in the Pacific.
Views expressed in this article are opinions of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of The Epoch Times.
