China's Long Tentacles !

The Pacific is the biggest ocean in the world and China has the most mouths to feed.    It has concluded an arrangement with the French Polynesian authority to establish a giant fish farm at the island of Hao.  Unfortunately, fish farms are known for their waste polluting surrounding water and making it imperative that the operation move frequently to a new position.

The island of Hao will be of interest to the military of other Pacific nations.  It contains little more than a massive four mile airstrip created by the French government when they were conducting nuclear tests in that area.  It came to infamy when French DGSE agents bombed Greenpeace's Rainbow Warrior in Auckland harbour in 1985.   A man died in that bombing and agents Dominique Prieur and Alain Mafart were caught and jailed.   The French bullied New Zealand by decreasing imports of lamb and dairy products from that country until the jailed agents were transferred to supposedly French imprisonment on lonely Hao island.  After a short stay, the French broke the agreement and returned them in triumph to Paris, where they were feted and promoted.

Few allied governments will be thrilled to find that China may ultimately gain access to an airstrip capable of handling its military aircraft in the middle of the Pacific ocean.   Use of the airstrip is not part of the deal, but China id adept at using finance as a weapon to gain what it wants, and the little Pacific territories are prone to falling into that money trap.

China is generous in providing development loans to improve facilities and these usually have a long repayment cycle.   The terms are tempting and impoverished small nations are prone to overreach and encounter repayment difficulties, in which case China is quite happy to convert the loan to some other form of equity.   Recently, just such an arrangement in the Indian ocean resulted in China gaining control of a strategic port in Sri Lanka after that country defaulted on its loan repayments.  China is expanding its military bases and has shown interest in establishing a military presence in Vanuatu.

A fish farm on Hao will undoubtedly require a permanent Chinese presence on the island to run the facility and it will be in Chinese hands because the French military withdrew when nuclear tests ceased.  At that time the French presence was minimal, with just a weather station.  The main reason for the airstrip was to provide a safe landing for any French military aircraft experiencing difficulties crossing such a lonely stretch of water.

China has deep pockets when it comes to financing improvements to insert a wedge in the economies of target nations, and this comes at a time when both Australia and America are cutting back on overseas aid.  Neither has an economy that is capable of winning an aid distribution war with China and it seems inevitable that China will gain the footholds it desires for a military presence worldwide.

That opens a whole new ball game.  China is very active in claiming territorial interests outside the rule of law, as we have seen in the South China sea.  The growing human numbers on planet Earth are making the food supply an integral component of property acquisition.   Perhaps a new form of creating an empire by stealth.