Here come the commies ! Why go the trouble and expense of building an artificial island to use as an aircraft carrier when you can simply buy a read made one!

China's plans, which have not been made public, involve construction on the tiny island of Kanton (also spelt Canton), a coral atoll strategically located midway between Asia and the Americas.

The Australian Strategic Policy Institute (ASPI) said in a paper last year that any Chinese facilities on Kiribati would be positioned across major sea lanes linking North America with Australia and New Zealand.

Beijing has labelled the ASPI think tank as “Anti-China”.

Kiribati opposition MP Tessie Lambourne told Reuters she was concerned about the project, and wanted to know whether it was part of China’s Belt and Road Initiative.

“The government hasn’t shared the cost and other details other than it’s a feasibility study for the rehabilitation of the runway and bridge,” Lambourne said. “The opposition will be seeking more information from government in due course.”

The office of Kiribati President Taneti Maamau did not respond to questions.

The Chinese Foreign Ministry did not immediately respond to questions.

Despite being small, Kiribati, a nation of 120,000 residents, controls one of the biggest exclusive economic zones in the world, covering more than 3.5 million square kilometres of the Pacific.

Any significant build-up on Kanton, located 3000 kilometres south-west of Hawaii and US military bases there, would offer a foothold to China deep into territory that had been firmly aligned to the US and its allies since World War II.

“The island would be a fixed aircraft carrier,” said one adviser to Pacific governments, who declined to be named because of the sensitivity of the project.

The US Navy’s 7th Fleet and US State Department’s Bureau of East Asian and Pacific Affairs did not immediately respond to requests for comment.

Kiribati (pronounced Kiribas) has in recent years been at the centre of a tussle between China and the US and its Pacific allies.

In late 2019 it severed diplomatic ties with Taiwan in favour of China, in a decision overseen by Maamau, who went on to win a closely contested election on a pro-China platform.

The diplomatic shift, which mirrored events in the Solomon Islands, was a setback for self-ruled Taiwan, which China claims as a province with no right to state-to-state ties. Taiwan counts the US as an important international backer and supplier of arms.

Kanton has been used by the US for space and missile tracking operations and its near two-kilometre runway hosted long-range bombers during the war.

Along with its strategic significance, the waters around Kanton are rich in fish, including tuna, although commercial fishing is prohibited as the island is in a marine protected zone.

There are around two dozen residents on Kanton who rely on subsistence fishing and supply ships.

History:

During World War II the United States Navy built a 6,230 foot (1.9 km) airstrip at 2°46′05″S 171°42′37″W (now known as Canton Island Airport (IATA: CIS, ICAO: PCIS)).

Kanton became a stopover point for the Navy Air Transport Service flights from the USA to Australia and New Zealand as well as a staging point for attacks on the Gilbert Islands, then held by Japan.

The SS President Taylor was grounded and abandoned near the island on 14 February 1942 when disembarking troops.

It was shelled three times in late 1942 by Japanese submarines, and bombed once on 25 March 1943.

Damage was reported as "Slight".

The island was defended by approximately 1,200 combat troops and support personnel, but was never attacked by Japanese forces

Source | Reuters