Page 203 - NS-2 Textbook

198 NAUTICAL SCIENCES

Hong Kong, 6,044, to Singapore, 7,350, and to Honolulu, World War II peace treaty prohibits Japan from having
Hawaii, 2,091 miles. From Yokohama to Singapore armed forces with an offensive capability. Tile United
through the Taiwan (Ti' -wan') Strait is 2,880 miles. Dis- States, by treaty, is obligated to defend Japan from for-
tance, then, is certainly an ilnportant factor to consider eign attack.
when discussing Pacific strategy. Treaties also commit U.S. forces to help our other Pa-
In addition to the ports mentioned above, there are cific allies in the event of aggression. We have strong mu-
many others of importance: Seattle and Los Angeles in tual defense ties with Australia and New Zealand. The
the United States; Calleo, the port of Lima, Peru; Santi- United States keeps a u.s. Army force permanently de-
ago, Chile; Wellington and Auckland, New Zealand; ployed in South Korea. There is always some North Ko-
Sydney and Brisbane, Australia; Jakarta, Indonesia; Sin- rean threat against this ally, including in recent years the
gapore; Bangkok, Thailand; Canton and Shanghai, capability to build nuclear weapons. u.s. forces were
China; Kobe and Osaka, Japan; Taipei (Ti-pa'), Taiwan; supposed to be withdrawn in the early 1980s, but this
Haiphong (Hi-fang'), Vietnam; and Vladivostok (Vlad-a- withdrawal has been delayed indefinitely by the North
vos'-tOk), Russia. Korean threat.
Tile major U.s. naval base on the West Coast is San After the Vietnam War U.S. relations with China
Diego, California. Smaller operating bases are located at steadily inlproved. Establishment of full diplomatic rela-
Seattle. There are U.S. naval shipyards at Bremerton, tions, including exchange of anlbassadors, occurred in
Washington, and Mare Island, California. Civilian ship- 1979. A reversal occurred in mid-1989, however. Chinese
yards with major naval ship contracts are in Seattle, San army tanks and troops brutally attacked students demon-
Francisco, Los Angeles, and San Diego. strating for democratic reforms in Tiananmen (Tie-nan'-
U.S. naval bases in the Pacific are located at Pearl men) Square in Beijing (Be-jing'). Thousands of the stu-
HarbOl; Hawaii, and Yokosuka (Yii-ka-sM'-ka), Japan. dents were killed or wounded; many were later jailed or
The U.S. Third Fleet has its headquarters at San Diego, executed as criminals. The Chinese government later
California. The U.S. Seventh Fleet flagship is based in tried to deny that the crackdown ever took place. Tile in-
Yokosuka, where there is a large ship-repair facility with cident caused renewed concern over the issue of human
drydocks. There is a large naval air facility at Atsugi, rights in China that has persisted to this day.
near Tokyo, which is the primary base for support of u.s. In April 2001 a U.S. Navy reconnaissance aircraft fly-
naval aviation in the western Pacific. Although most ing a mission over international waters in the South
ships in the Seventh Fleet deploy from home ports on the China Sea suffered a midair collision with an intercept-
U.S. West Coast, a carrier battle group has maintained its ing Chinese fighter jet. Afterward the American plane
home port in Yokosuka, Japan, for over thirty years. made an emergency landing at China's Hainan (Hi'-
The Russian Pacific Fleet has its headquarters at nan') Island south of the mainland. Its crew was detained
Vladivostok. Other naval bases are located in Nakhodka for the next eleven days until they were released into U.S.
(Na-kllot' -ka), Sovetskaya Gavan (Sa-vet-ski-ya Ga'- custody. This incident caused U.S.-China relations to sink
van), and Petropavlosk (Pe-tra-pav' -lofsk). A submarine- to a ne\v 1mv, but some improvenlent has occurred since.
building yard is located far up the Amur River at Kom- The militmy threat posed by China in the region, and the
somolsk (Kom-sa-molsk'). poor record of the Chinese on hlUllan rights, will un-
The Chinese navy is small but growing in strength. It doubtedly be of ongoing concern to the United States for
has bases in a munber of Chinese ports, including Amoy, SOTIle tinle to come.
Shanghai (Shang-hi'), Tsingtao (Ching-dou'), and Dairen The United States has formal economic and defense
(DI-ren'). Tile Indonesians have a naval base at Sura- ties to several Pacific island groups that were formerly
baja (Sur-a-bi' -a); the Taiwanese at Kaohsiung (Gou'- part of the Trust Territory of the Pacific Islands adminis-
shyoong'); the South Koreans at Pusan; and the Thais at tered by the U.s. on behalf of the United Nations. These
Sattahip (Sa'-ta-hep). The Japanese have a small Mar- include the Marshall Islands, Caroline Islands, and the
itime Self Defense Force, which is capable of limited op- Mariana Islmlds. These were all taken from the Japanese
erations around the home islands. during World War II.
Strategic Geography. The U.S. Navy has two main In general, the Pacific has been cahn in recent years.
tasks in event of a war in the Pacific: (1) protect the long Smoldering difficulties remain in most Asian nations,
supply lines to our forces and (2) keep the sea-lanes open however. The United States has to keep alert in the area
to our allies, especially Japan, South Korea, the Philip- by having naval forces deployed there at all times.
pines, Thailand, Australia, and New Zealand.
Japan is the key to U.S. foreign policy in Asia and the
ANTARCTIC SEAS
principal nation to be defended in the Far East. Japan's
industries and hardworking people make that cotrntry Tile seas arotmd Antarctica are circllmpolar; that is, they
the most prosperous in the area. At the same time, the surrOlrnd the south polar continent of Antarctica. In area