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The Guardian - AU
The Guardian - AU
World
Mar-Vic Cagurangan in Guam

Pacific island governor backs $800m US military upgrade amid China threat

Beach with rocky shoreline on island of Tinian, Northern Mariana Islands
The US plans to invest close to $800m in Tinian, part of the Northern Mariana Islands, to build up defence operations. Photograph: raksybH/Getty Images/iStockphoto

The governor of the Northern Mariana Islands says an $800m US military upgrade plan which includes a new airfield in the Pacific territory “has to happen” amid concern over China’s recent missile tests in the region.

Tinian, home to about 3,500 people, is one of the three main islands of the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands, an unincorporated US territory. During the second world war, the US launched a nuclear bomb against Japan from Tinian, and now a major rehabilitation of a deserted airfield and other military upgrades are under way on the island.

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