nadi, fiji
While the world watches the ongoing wars in Israel and Ukraine, another global crisis is quietly building in the South Pacific. Since Japan’s defeat in World War ii, the United States has taken responsibility for this region and spent billions of dollars ensuring that the transoceanic cargo vessels traversing these waters are safe. But now Communist China wants to become the successor of Imperial Japan by creating its own Greater East Asia Co-Prosperity Sphere. This could prove disastrous for world trade.

For over two decades, the Chinese People’s Liberation Army has provided extensive military support to Tonga, Fiji, Papua New Guinea and many other South Pacific nations in an attempt to spread its military influence deep into the Pacific Ocean. China is now trying to intensify this support. In January, China began security talks with Papua New Guinea. In July, China’s guided-missile destroyer Zibo visited Tongo to celebrate the 50th anniversary of the Tonga Navy. And in August, Chinese General Secretary Xi Jinping pledged to strengthen ties with Fiji in a world beset with “turmoil.”

These moves might seem benevolent. Yet just like the European Union has succeeded in re-creating Adolf Hitler’s empire without firing a shot, Communist China is trying to re-create Hideki Tojo’s empire using debt trap diplomacy instead of kamikaze squads.

The Heritage Foundation, a think tank based in the United States and closely aligned with Donald Trump’s Make America Great Again movement, is now warning that war will come to the South Pacific if the U.S. does not take immediate action to counter Chinese ambitions.

“The Pacific Islands occupy a pivotal location that is important to U.S. efforts to protect Americans and deny China’s regional hegemonic ambitions,” the Heritage Foundation reported. “If the United States does not carefully navigate these relationships, it risks ceding influence and access to China, thereby granting Beijing a potential foothold in the Indo-Pacific that can threaten U.S. national security interests and complicate possible future military operations in Asia, if and when needed.”

This is a serious threat. Australia’s trade with the U.S. passes by Fiji, its trade with Japan passes by the Solomon Islands, and its trade with Europe passes by Papua New Guinea. So China’s moves in the South Pacific could completely cut off Australia from international trade. This would shock global financial markets.

Such a horrifying scenario is unlikely to happen within the next couple of years, as America still maintains three aircraft carrier strike groups in the Pacific. But China’s efforts to ally with South Pacific nations is helping it increase its power in the region. China’s goal is to be the world’s premier superpower by the 100th anniversary of the Chinese Communist Revolution, which is coming up in 2049. So America does not have long to reverse its declining power in the South Pacific.

America’s declining influence is made all the more tragic by the fact that the English-speaking peoples once controlled virtually every maritime choke point and sea gate on the planet. How did these nations grow to dominate global trade to such an extent?

In his book The United States and Britain in Prophecy, Herbert W. Armstrong explained that it all began with a promise made to the patriarch Abraham. God promised to give Abraham’s descendants control over the “gates” of their enemies (Genesis 22:17). A gate is a narrow passage of entrance or exit. When speaking nationally, a “sea gate” is a narrow choke point like the Torres Strait. God gave Britain and America those commercial gates, ensuring they would become economic superpowers. But God also warned that if America and Britain did not obey Him, then those sea gates would not only be taken away but used against them (Deuteronomy 28:52).

The fact that China is making inroads into territories once used by America and Britain to win World War ii shows how close this prophecy is to being fulfilled.

To learn about China’s strategy to control world trade, read “China Is Steering the World Toward War,” by Trumpet editor in chief Gerald Flurry.