China's people-driven connectivity spreads around the Pacific
Sunday, November 28, 2004 at 5:38AM ■"China Sees Chances for Fun and Profit Offshore: More Air Service, Tourism and Investment Flow From Mainland to South Pacific," by James Brooke, New York Times, 25 November 2004, p. W1.
Chinese tourism is remaking the economics of island nations all over the Western Pacific, and that influence will only grow. The number of Chinese tourists is expected to increase ten-fold over the next two decades, reaching a global total of 100 million a year. Thatís the equivalent of one out of every three Americans traveling abroad every year:
ìThe Chinese will dwarf the Japanese in tourism and business,î said Dirk A. Ballendorf, an American who teaches Micronesiaís history at the University of Guam. ìI recommend that all my student study Chinese.î
Will the flag follow trade? You bet, which means Chinaís navy is becoming the new kid on the block. And it will be welcomed because that trade is welcomed. Eventually, America will need a security alliance in Asia that includes China, and it wonít be to ratify their military presence, but ours.
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