A US think tank expert posted a video last week on social media showing Chinese firms rebuilding an airport runway on Woleai atoll in Micronesia’s Yap state, sparking concerns in the United States over security in this strategic region. The runway, originally built by imperial Japan during World War II, is being reconstructed by at least two Chinese companies and is scheduled for completion by the end of the month.
Cleo Paskal, a non-resident senior fellow at the Washington-based Foundation for Defence of Democracies, posted a video on social media last week showing the rebuilding of an airport runway on Woleai, a remote 4.5 sq km atoll in Micronesia’s Yap state.
“Chinese company at work rebuilding the old Imperial Japanese runway on Woleai, Yap, Federated States of Micronesia – a bit over 600 miles from Guam. Scheduled to be completed by the end of the month,” Paskal said in the post on December 10.
Originally built in the early 1940s by imperial Japan, the runway was wrecked by US bombers during the second world war, leaving it unusable, according to the Habele Institute, a project run by the US-based non-profit Habele Outer Island Education Fund.
Now at least two Chinese companies appear to be involved in rebuilding the facility. At the time of the groundbreaking ceremony in May, Shandong Hengyue Municipal Engineering Co Ltd, a private Chinese firm, said in a company statement that it was working on the project.
The development comes amid heightened strategic tensions in the Asia-Pacific region, involving countries such as China, the US, Australia, New Zealand, Fiji and the Solomon Islands. The Woleai project highlights China’s growing influence in the Pacific, potentially affecting regional security dynamics.