Guam and Saipan, the largest island in the Northern Mariana Islands, are both well-known tourist destinations for Chinese people, but both of these U.S. overseas possessions have been affected by malicious acts of the Chinese Communist Party in recent years. Alexander Gray, who has held key positions in the White House National Security Council (NSC) and the National Economic Council (NEC), called for the Biden administration to allocate resources to enhance the capabilities of the U.S. Coast Guard, and for the NSC to have a full-Time official in charge of the coordination of all overseas territories and islands under its jurisdiction, in order to comprehensively deal with the diverse and dangerous malicious acts of the Chinese Communist Party. The NSC should also have a dedicated official to coordinate all overseas territories and islands under its jurisdiction to address the diverse and dangerous malicious acts of the CCP.
The traditional Music of the Chamorro indigenous people, along with the sun and sand, is a unique impression of Guam to tourists. But for the Chinese Communist Party’s People’s Liberation Army, the island, some 9,800 kilometers off the U.S. west coast, they see a base housing some 7,000 U.S. troops and a resupply and repair center for U.S. nuclear-powered submarines.
Located about 2,600-plus kilometers from China, Guam is the closest U.S. territory to China. The PLA has practiced attacking Guam more than once, which is why U.S. Army Indo-Pacific Commander Phil Davison has recently made a strong appeal to the Senate to approve the installation of the latest generation of the Aegis Ashore land-based anti-missile defense system on Guam to counter the Chinese Communist missile threat. The Guam government has been strongly urging the Senate to approve the installation of the latest generation of the Aegis Ashore land-based anti-missile defense system in Guam to counter the Chinese missile threat.
Gray told the station that the Chinese threat to Guam is not only military, but also in a number of areas.
“I think with what the Chinese know about Guam, they would also use the same thing they did with the Northern Mariana Islands on Guam if they could, which is to damage the United States from within the U.S. overseas territories. If you can, that includes politically corrupt activities, malicious economic practices, and propaganda infiltration. So I would say that we don’t just have to think about Guam on a military level, the U.S. must also think about how to protect the territory from infiltration by spies.”
Gray, who was chief of staff to White House national security adviser O’Brien during the Trump administration, was also the White House National Economic Council official in charge of defense industries and is currently a senior fellow for national security affairs at the American Foreign Policy Council, a nonprofit organization.
Three of the five U.S. overseas territories are in the Pacific Ocean: Guam, the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands and American Samoa; the two in the Caribbean are Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands.
In addition, the United States has administrative jurisdiction over nine islands in the Pacific Ocean and Navassa Island in the Caribbean Sea, over which the United States and Haiti have a sovereignty dispute.
A Changing Saipan Chinese Corruption Leaves a Rotten Casino
Grey referred to the infamous scandal that broke on Saipan in 2018, which was the alleged bribery and hiring of illegal Chinese laborers to build a casino by the Chinese-owned company, Imperial Pacific International Holdings Ltd.
Bloomberg reported in 2018 describing Saipan as having become the U.S. territory that most resembles China. In 2017, the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) became involved in the investigation after a Chinese black worker fell to his death and protested for unpaid wages.
According to the Guam Daily Post, in early March this year, the Northern Marianas Gaming Review Board requested the revocation of the casino operating license of Bovada Pacific, which was halfway through the construction of the Imperial Palace casino on Saipan, becoming the most gilded and dilapidated building in the region.
What China is doing in the Northern Marianas is a worrying example,” Grey told reporters. U.S. overseas territories are already suffering from the scourge of Chinese corruption. On top of that, China is using Saipan as a base for its ‘fertility tourism industry’ of ‘having American babies,’ which is overwhelming the local medical system. I would say that this pattern of behavior is called ‘malicious foreign influence,’ and China has already done this in many other countries like Southeast Asia and Africa, and this is not new to them.”
Gray recently wrote on the Real Clear Defense website that the exclusive economic waters under the five U.S. overseas territories and 10 islands under administrative jurisdiction cover 1.3 million square miles, with 750,000 square miles of exclusive economic waters in the islands in the Pacific Ocean.
Although these overseas territories are of interest to the United States, the federal government, from the White House to the State Department to the Department of Defense, has not been sufficiently concerned about China’s actions in U.S. overseas territories due to their distance.
His specific recommendations include expanding or establishing permanent U.S. Coast Guard bases in both Guam and American Samoa. This would allow the U.S. to have enough law enforcement personnel to defend its interests in the event of illegal fishing by Chinese fishing boats or unidentified Chinese vessels conducting hydrographic surveys, damaging undersea Life or even submarine cables.
On the other hand, he added, the White House NSC is to create a position at least at the director level to oversee the coordination of federal government departments on U.S. overseas territory matters; and to add FBI and DEA staffing to all overseas territories.
“I would say that the Chinese Communist threat to our overseas territories is not just military; the variety of malicious acts are diverse and dangerous.”
The data shows that about 3.5 million U.S. citizens live in the five overseas territories, with Puerto Rico accounting for the vast majority of those 3.2 million. There are 20 mainland U.S. states that don’t have as many people as Puerto Rico.
Grey then said that China is also suspected of wildlife trafficking and that the U.S. also needs to bet more resources to protect U.S. interests in these overseas territories, just as important as it is for us to protect California or Texas.
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