China’s normal infrastructure cooperation with foreign countries has once again been militarized by the Western media. China is planning to upgrade a “strategically motivated” island airport 1,800 miles from Hawaii, the Daily Mail said Monday, suggesting it could be upgraded to deploy fighter jets and reconnaissance aircraft.
Reported that China has drawn up plans to upgrade the Pacific island nation of Kiribati on a remote island airstrip, “restore this military aircraft deployed during World War II base.” Reported that the airport is located on a coral atoll, about 1864 miles southwest of Hawaii.
During World War II, the U.S. military used the airstrip to launch an air route between Hawaii and the South Pacific. In the late 1960s, the U.S. military also used the airstrip for space targets and missile tracking. Today, the airport is largely “dormant” and is used only for emergencies. But the report described the island as “like a fixed aircraft carrier” with runways nearly 8,000 feet long, but about a half of them were unusable.
“This massive construction will allow China, for the first time since World War II, to find a foothold in a territory closely aligned with the United States and its allies.” Reported that if the airport to modern upgrade and improve, while expanding the area, can support the deployment of fighter aircraft.
At the same time, the island can take off reconnaissance aircraft because it lies between Hawaii and Oceania, which has two key U.S. allies, Australia and New Zealand. In a paper last year, the Australian Institute for Strategic Policy Research said China’s facilities in Kiribati would be located on the main sea route between North America, Australia and New Zealand. In addition, China’s former space tracking station in Kiribati may be restored.
The airport is about 1,864 miles from Hawaii
But Chinese experts interviewed by the Global Times on the 9th said all the speculation mentioned in the report that “China will use the island’s airport to deploy warplanes” was unfounded. The report acknowledged that “China has not indicated whether the airport will be used for military purposes,” the Chinese Foreign Ministry said in a statement to Reuters, adding that China was studying plans to upgrade and improve the airstrip at the invitation of the Kiribati government to facilitate domestic transport within Kiribati.
The statement said China’s cooperation with Kiribati adheres to the concept of “mutually beneficial cooperation” and provides assistance within its capabilities without any political strings attached.
Chinese military experts believe that British media reports suggest that China may deploy fighter jets and reconnaissance aircraft at upgraded airports, there is no basis for “brain supplements”, the whole report is also “rhythmic”, rendering “China threat theory.” Experts believe that some Western media today are basically “in the middle of the right”, and often even catch the wind and shadow, ignoring basic common sense and journalistic ethics, smearing China or creating panic.
Once China has any cooperation with foreign countries, it will “go military.” China, for example, has speculated that Chinese warships will be stationed when it helps other countries build ports, and that it can support fighter jets when it helps build airports. Experts believe that China needs to ignore this media hype, but it needs to do a good job of being “mixed up” by the involvement of Western political forces.
