Photo by Ann Wright. Only section of Gurombi rocks left.
The international community is extraordinarily concerned about the Chinese construction on small islands and atolls in disputed waters off China, Vietnam, Taiwan and Japan. Over the past 18 months, the Chinese government has created islands out of atolls and larger islands out of small ones. With the Obama administration’s “pivot” of the United States military and economic strategy to Asia and the Pacific, the Chinese have seen military construction in their front yard.
I’ve just returned from my third trip to Jeju Island, South Korea. Jeju is called the Island of Peace. However, it's where the South Korean military has almost finished construction of a new naval base, the first military base on this strategically located island south of the mainland of Korea that is littered with US and South Korean military bases, leftover from the Korean war, and that are now a part of the US “defense” of South Korea from “aggression” from North Korea.
