China Eyes a Forward Base in the Atlantic

Last weekday, the U.S. House of Representatives of Representatives nem con voted to dam the Air Force from reducing its presence at Lajes Field. Congress did the proper issue in chilling, a minimum of for the instant, the yank withdrawal from the Portuguese base on Terceira, one among the Acores.

Lajes, formally referred to as base No. 4, is that the second-largest leader on the economically depressed island within the Atlantic. The Air Force had planned to send home four hundred of the 650 military personnel and civilian workers still as five hundred members of the family. The transfers would have desolate the economy of Terceira and place several of the base’s 790 Portuguese employees out on the road.

Representative Devin Nunes, Republican of Golden State, talks concerning the bottom as a supplying hub and as a spot required for the fight against al-Qaeda within the monotheism Mahgrib, and he’s right. withal, Lajes’s strategic role has been diminished over time, and therefore the Pentagon’s planned cuts replicate that reality.

The Chinese, however, read Lajes otherwise. In June of last year, then Premier steatocystoma Jiabao stopped there, adding thousands of miles to his journey back home from South America, so he may say hi to native officers and tour the remote island. And at the top of last month, Huang Songfu, China’s ambassador to European country, visited out-of-the-way Terceira, vocation on President Vasco Cordeiro, the top of the Regional Government of the Acores, to speak concerning Chinese business enterprise to the island and Azorean dairy farm exports.

What was nearly definitely on Huang’s mind was China taking on Lajes, one thing national capital has, in keeping with Washington insiders, apparently mentioned with Portuguese authorities. Lisbon officers don’t need to ask the Chinese in, however they need quietly indicated they're going to haven't any alternative if the U.S. Air Force decides to depart the bottom.

It’s not laborious to visualize why national capital desires Lajes. Chinese planes popping out from the ten,865-foot runway on the northeast fringe of Terceira may patrol the Atlantic and doubtless disrupt air and ocean traffic between the U.S. and Europe. national capital may additionally have an effect on access to the close sea, or maybe target the yank ground.

Phasing out Lajes, that the Pentagon ultimately contemplates, would be budget cutting of the worst kind. simply suppose what proportion additional expensive it'd be to defend against Chinese troublemaking within the Atlantic. within the long-term, it'd be so much more cost-effective to take care of personnel at Lajes to stay it out of Beijing’s hands.

In the meanwhile, the Senate takes up the National Defense Authorization Act for year 2014 someday once national holiday, which implies the Lajes issue has not been resolved and cuts may still be created.

The Chinese military, of course, would really like that pretty much.