Someone Else’s Chain, Someone Else’s Road: U.S. Military Strategy, China’s Belt and Road Initiative, and Island Agency in the Pacific
The islands of the western Pacific have increasingly been portrayed by policymakers, military strategists, journalists, and scholars as places caught between a rising China and traditional powers such as the United States and their allies. In this article, however, we aim to challenge the geopolitic...
| Main Authors: | , , |
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
| Published: |
Island Studies Journal
2020-10-01
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| Series: | Island Studies Journal |
| Online Access: | https://doi.org/10.24043/isj.104 |
| _version_ | 1797771049847226368 |
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| author | Sasha Davis Lexi A. Munger Hannah J. Legacy |
| author_facet | Sasha Davis Lexi A. Munger Hannah J. Legacy |
| author_sort | Sasha Davis |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | The islands of the western Pacific have increasingly been portrayed by policymakers, military strategists, journalists, and scholars as places caught between a rising China and traditional powers such as the United States and their allies. In this article, however, we aim to challenge the geopolitical view of islands as ‘falling’ into the sphere of influence of one power or another. Specifically, we use an approach informed by assemblage theory to highlight the ways that islands in the Pacific simultaneously engage with multiple powers and their associated political, economic, and social influences. To ground our argument, we discuss two ‘great power’ schemes that aim to bring islands in the region into specific relational configurations: U.S. ‘littoral defense lines’ and China’s Belt Road Initiative. We also include a brief case study of Chinese tourism investment in Yap Island (Wa‘ab) in the Federated States of Micronesia (which is a state in ‘free association’ with the U.S.). Through these examples, we show how influence in the island Pacific is not a zero-sum game between foreign powers vying for hegemony. Instead, from an island perspective, residents and policymakers are attempting to weave together and navigate multiple foreign influences in ways that frustrate colonial and neocolonial logics of international relations. |
| first_indexed | 2024-03-12T21:30:58Z |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj.art-cafd025fd6084b1882726b69e900f354 |
| institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
| issn | 1715-2593 |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-03-12T21:30:58Z |
| publishDate | 2020-10-01 |
| publisher | Island Studies Journal |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Island Studies Journal |
| spelling | doaj.art-cafd025fd6084b1882726b69e900f3542023-07-27T19:17:36ZengIsland Studies JournalIsland Studies Journal1715-25932020-10-01152Someone Else’s Chain, Someone Else’s Road: U.S. Military Strategy, China’s Belt and Road Initiative, and Island Agency in the PacificSasha DavisLexi A. MungerHannah J. LegacyThe islands of the western Pacific have increasingly been portrayed by policymakers, military strategists, journalists, and scholars as places caught between a rising China and traditional powers such as the United States and their allies. In this article, however, we aim to challenge the geopolitical view of islands as ‘falling’ into the sphere of influence of one power or another. Specifically, we use an approach informed by assemblage theory to highlight the ways that islands in the Pacific simultaneously engage with multiple powers and their associated political, economic, and social influences. To ground our argument, we discuss two ‘great power’ schemes that aim to bring islands in the region into specific relational configurations: U.S. ‘littoral defense lines’ and China’s Belt Road Initiative. We also include a brief case study of Chinese tourism investment in Yap Island (Wa‘ab) in the Federated States of Micronesia (which is a state in ‘free association’ with the U.S.). Through these examples, we show how influence in the island Pacific is not a zero-sum game between foreign powers vying for hegemony. Instead, from an island perspective, residents and policymakers are attempting to weave together and navigate multiple foreign influences in ways that frustrate colonial and neocolonial logics of international relations.https://doi.org/10.24043/isj.104 |
| spellingShingle | Sasha Davis Lexi A. Munger Hannah J. Legacy Someone Else’s Chain, Someone Else’s Road: U.S. Military Strategy, China’s Belt and Road Initiative, and Island Agency in the Pacific Island Studies Journal |
| title | Someone Else’s Chain, Someone Else’s Road: U.S. Military Strategy, China’s Belt and Road Initiative, and Island Agency in the Pacific |
| title_full | Someone Else’s Chain, Someone Else’s Road: U.S. Military Strategy, China’s Belt and Road Initiative, and Island Agency in the Pacific |
| title_fullStr | Someone Else’s Chain, Someone Else’s Road: U.S. Military Strategy, China’s Belt and Road Initiative, and Island Agency in the Pacific |
| title_full_unstemmed | Someone Else’s Chain, Someone Else’s Road: U.S. Military Strategy, China’s Belt and Road Initiative, and Island Agency in the Pacific |
| title_short | Someone Else’s Chain, Someone Else’s Road: U.S. Military Strategy, China’s Belt and Road Initiative, and Island Agency in the Pacific |
| title_sort | someone else s chain someone else s road u s military strategy china s belt and road initiative and island agency in the pacific |
| url | https://doi.org/10.24043/isj.104 |
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