In 1997 the People's Republic of China began building a satellite tracking and control station on the Tarawa atoll which is now part of the Republic of Kiribati. The Christian Science Monitor reports that this is the first permanent station of its type built outside mainland China. This station reportedly can perform a number of missions for the Chinese military from satellite control and monitoring, to intercepting U.S. Naval communications, tracking movements of the U.S. Pacific fleet, and tracking U.S. missile launches from the pacific to the continental United States. Defense News is quoted by the China Reform Monitor No. 175 on the these new capabilites that now the P.R.C. "could employ radio jamming or high-powered microwave transmitters on Tarawa to disable U.S. satellites which are essntial for command and control of fleet and anti-ballistic missile operations." The China Reform Monitor No. 164 further points out that Tarawa is only 500 miles from the U.S. Kwajalein missile test range in the Marshall Islands "...which is an essential component if the Strategic Defense Initiative anti-missile program." This move by the P.R.C. obviously has far reaching implications for the United States and all other countries in the Pacific region. Tarawa was once the site of the bloodiest battle of the most violent war in modern history. Once again, an expantionist, but this time Communist power threatens control of the Pacific Ocean. Tarawa may yet again become a bloody battleground....
Reports on the Chinese installation on Tarawa can be accessed through the links below:
November 18, 1997 China Reform Monitor No. 12
May 2, 1998 China Reform Monitor No. 66
February 4, 1999 China Reform Monitor No. 164
March 3, 1999 China Reform Monitor No. 175
August 16, 1999 Agence France Presse
copyright 2000 Wheaton, Illinois
Created September 15, 1998
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