US building military radar on Palau pacific island to monitor China
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The Warzone says that this move comes as the US aims to boost its military presence in the Indo-Pacific.
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US Air Force troops on Palau pacific island for military exercise in 2019. (U.S. Indo-Pacific Command)
The US is moving forward with plans to establish a "persistent US military presence in the Indo-Pacific" to counter China, which includes a project to establish a military base in the Republic of Palau according to a report by The Warzone.
Palau, a pacific island located near China with no formal military, has an agreement with Washington that the latter would defend it.
The military base would include an advanced Tactical Mobile Over-the-Horizon Radar (TACMOR) that would be vital to monitoring "Chinese activities".
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The high-tech radar (Over-the-Horizon or OTH) has the capability to spot targets that are outside the range of ordinary radars and are normally used as early warning systems.
The $17 billion US Air Force radar was first suggested to the United States by the republic back in 2020 as the pacific island accused Beijing of carrying out "ongoing destabilizing activities". The report claimed that the project indicates the US's "growing vigilance" in the region.
"Palau itself is becoming especially strategic as the United States focuses on preparing for a potential high-end future conflict in the area against Chinese forces, but also on addressing the threats posed by the missile arsenals of adversaries like North Korea," the report noted.
Growing tensions in the pacific region have been prompted due to the US's increased hostility towards China in the pacific region, as Washington aims to contain the growing Asian giant that it considers to be the main threat to its unipolar hegemony over the world.
The current main issue between the two nations is Taiwan, which erupted following the visit of US House Speaker Nancy Pelosi to the island on August 2 earlier this year.
China slammed the US accusing Washington that it has breached its commitment not to support the independence of Taiwan, while its military contacts with the island's ruling Democratic Progressive Party have become even closer recently.
Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi noted in August that "this once again demonstrates that some American politicians are destroyers of Sino-US relations, whereas the US has become the primary destroyer of peace and regional stability between the two shores of the Taiwan Strait."
