In this special episode, we sat down with Alex Gray, senior fellow at the American Foreign Policy Council and former director for Oceania and Indo-Pacific security at the U.S. National Security Council during the Trump administration; and Grant Newsham, retired Marine colonel and director of the One Korea Network. They discuss the importance of the Pacific islands, what it would mean if the United States loses its standing as the preeminent Pacific power, and the consequences if the Chinese regime gains the upper hand.
Newsham said if the Chinese regime were to get the upper hand in the Pacific, it would impact “the simple physical ability to operate in the region. We would find ourselves actually defending America, from Hawaii. And if you play that out a little more, you’re actually defending America, from a lot closer to the U.S. West Coast. As hard as that is to believe, particularly for somebody who’s sort of growing up after World War II—where we’ve had the upper hand, where really Asia, the Pacific has been ours—we would finally face an enemy, face a situation where we would be on the defensive, and from much closer to American territory.”…