Download the Full Article: Hawaii and Guam: Strategic Convergence Zones for the United States Forward Defense Strategy in the Pacific Rim
Robert Kaplan had an article in the May/June 2010 issue of Foreign Affairs titled "The Geography of Chinese Power: How Far Can Beijing Reach on Land and at Sea?" His discussion of what the Chinese Navy calls the "first island chain" and the "second island chain" in the Pacific Ocean drew our attention. These two maritime constructs are not simply linear descriptions of the layout of islands but ones with value-added undertones for both Chinese and American geostrategists over the Pacific Rim. Among these undertones, three are discussed below. First is the general observation that geography trumps politics in dealing with the emergent Chinese power. Second is that Guam and Hawaii because of their critically important position in the second island chain are historically poised to benefit the nations of the Pacific Rim by becoming new convergence zones. Third the emerging trends and the actions needed to capture, benefit from and give leadership to these trends for the Pacific century are discussed.
Download the Full Article: Hawaii and Guam: Strategic Convergence Zones for the United States Forward Defense Strategy in the Pacific Rim
James A. Kent is a global community analyst with extensive experience with geographic focused social and economic development policy in Pacific Rim countries. He is President of the JKA Group (www.jkagroup.com) which has three enterprises: James Kent Associates, a public policy consulting firm; Center for Social Ecology and Public Policy, a non-profit that builds public policy from social ecological concepts; and Natural Borders, a human geographic mapping company. Jim has presented at hundreds of universities, policy forums, and conferences focusing on military issues in the Pacific, environmental policy directed towards the cooling of the earth, citizen based policy formation and implementation, and culture-based enterprise development through collaboration.
Dr. Eric Casino is a social anthropologist and policy consultant with a long-term interest in international business and development programs in Southeast Asia and the Pacific. Beside his association with the JKA Group, he has spent time as an East-West Center research fellow and worked as a consultant with the World Bank in the Philippines. His academic track record included a resident Fulbright Scholar at the University of California Santa Cruz, a visiting lecturer at the Asian Institute of Management, and a language instructor with the Defense Language Institute and Foreign Language Center. He currently is with the adjunct faculty of the Hawaii Pacific University in Honolulu.
