Pago Pago, AMERICAN SAMOA — China has expanded its military reach in the Pacific by building dozens of ports, airports, and communication projects in key locations across a vast region that could keep the United States and its allies at bay in case of war, according to a recent report.

The projects appeared to be civilian in nature but are actually “strategic nodes” stretching over nearly 3,000 miles, from Papua New Guinea, north of Australia, to Samoa, about 40 miles away from American Samoa, as cited in a recent report by Newsweek.

The developing logistics network in the South Pacific, largely built by Chinese state-owned companies with ties to its defense sector, has been overlooked even as Beijing's rivalry with the U.S. deepens and China's overseas ambitions elsewhere draw attention, said Domingo I-Kwei Yang, a research assistant at Taiwan's National Defense and Security Research Institute, a country that China has threatened to invade.

"The question is not if, but when China will complete a civil-military logistics system in the Pacific," Yang said about the study entitled "China's Dual-Use Infrastructure in the Pacific."

The strategic network began to develop about two decades ago and is now incorporated into China's Belt and Road Initiative - BRI launched in 2013, a global infrastructure plan intentionally designed for "dual-use," both civilian and military, Yang said.

"China's Belt and Road Initiative is not just about infrastructure but also a vehicle for strategic influence, with the dual-use infrastructure it builds as a force multiplier," Yang wrote.

In fact, the infrastructure network built through this project could hinder U.S. and its allies' operations over large areas of the Pacific and could facilitate the invasion of Taiwan, which the Chinese Communist Party considers part of Chinese territory.

"Beijing aims to reshape the regional power dynamics and challenge U.S.-led alliances," convincing traditional U.S. allies in the region — Japan, South Korea, the Philippines, Australia, and New Zealand — "to reconsider their security partnerships with the U.S. and Beijing and shift the regional power balance in China's favor," the study mentioned.

China's logistical nodes in the Pacific were part of an even more ambitious geostrategic plan, known as the Southern Link, designed to stretch to South America, further isolating the United States to the north, as outlined in the report. Last year, China opened a megaport built and operated by the state-owned shipping giant COSCO in Chancay, Peru, a logistical hub located in South America.

China's key nodes are located in 11 countries in the Pacific Islands. Of these, 26 involve airport construction. At least 12 of these airports could now accommodate China's largest military transport aircraft, the Y-20, Yang said.

A key point is Papua New Guinea, with a population of 12 million, where 21 projects are being developed, such as the Momote Airport serving Manus Island and located near a deep-water port used by American vessels. This has provided China with a potential "support point" to monitor and disrupt American operations, intercepting joint missions between the United States and regional partners, Yang said.

Samoa has also received airport projects, maritime ports, and information technology from China. Beijing had minimal trade ties with Samoa, raising questions about Beijing's interests, according to Yang, who noted Samoa’s proximity to American Samoa.

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