U.S. Pacific Fleet Commander Adm. John Aquilino presented Guam Gov. Lou Leon Guerrero with the Navy Distinguished Public Service Award May 2.

U.S. Pacific Fleet Commander Adm. John Aquilino presented Guam Gov. Lou Leon Guerrero with the Navy Distinguished Public Service Award May 2.

A recent article in the South China Morning Post and a news broadcast making the rounds on social media have some residents worried that Guam could be in the crosshairs of a Chinese military attack.

From the military’s perspective, neither the sentiment about the importance of defending Guam, nor the threat from China are new. In a December 2021 defense.gov article, Marine Corps Lt. Gen. Stephen D. Sklenka, the deputy commander of U.S. Indo-Pacific Command, said these have been serious concerns for years.

“It’s been our top priority for the last three years going on four, and the past two successive commanders have gone on the record to state this,” Sklenka said. “They’ve warned all that will listen that the threat to Guam will only increase over the next five years. Those aren’t idle threats. Those are based off of events that we’re seeing unfold around us right now.”

The recent article, and the broadcast, stem from a discussion Friday with U.S. Indo-Pacific Command Adm. John C. Aquilino hosted by the Foundation for Defense of Democracies, a Washington-based think tank. The discussion can be viewed here bit.ly/3QPcpp8.

When asked what Americans need to know about the threat from China, Aquilino said that nation is undergoing “the largest military build-up since World War II,” and the declaration of a ‘no-limits’ policy supporting Russia is troubling.

He said if China and Russia “were to truly demonstrate and deliver a ‘no-limits’ policy, I think what that means is we’re currently in an extremely dangerous time and place in the history of humanity if that were to come true.”

Aquilino was also asked the importance of Guam bases as a deterrence to aggression in the region.

“Guam is extremely important,” he said, explaining all bases and allies west of the International Dateline are critical. “Guam is absolutely a strategic location. We will need to operate from Guam. We will need to both fight for and from Guam, and it will provide a variety of capabilities and support functions should we end up in some crisis situation.”

Within the last year, the U.S. military has homeported five fast-attack submarines on Guam, and a more robust missile defense system is in the works.

During a Congressional Armed Services Committee hearing in March 2021, Adm. Philip S. Davidson, then-commander of the U.S. Pacific Command, said his No. 1 priority was “a defensive system on Guam.”

“The threat as it has developed in the Western Pacific has moved in a way in which we need to have better integrated air and missile defense capability on Guam in order to defend it,” Davidson said during the hearing. “As we look at the expanse of Chinese weapons systems and their employment of air and maritime forces in the region, we need a 360-degree defense now of Guam. And it must be able to meet the ballistic missile threat that can come from (People’s Republic of China) land as well as PRC ships, but it also should meet the 360-degree threat around Guam that comes from circumnavigations of Guam by PRC naval assets, including submarines that could shoot land-attack cruise missiles, for example, as well as bomber approaches and its ability to shoot land-attack cruise missiles as well.”

“We have to be able to defend against all those threats,” he said.

With Russia’s attack on Ukraine possibly emboldening other nations, and an alliance between Russia and China being especially troubling, it’s important to remember our strategic location in the world. While this makes the island valuable for the United States, it also makes it vulnerable.

In the defense.gov article, Slenka argued for the missile defense system.

“Guam is a place where our combat power will aggregate and congregate and from which it will emanate,” Sklenka said. “From there we send a powerful strategic message to our allies and our adversaries that the United States has invested in this region — we prioritize the Indo-Pacific.

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