Guam defends missile testing, nukes, to maintain 'peace'

Guam's Governor views missile testing and housing nuclear weapons on the United States territory as a way of deterring aggression to maintain peace in the region.

This comes as Pacific Island leaders progress plans to declare the Pacific a 'zone of peace'.

Governor Lou Leon Guerrero said the US territory had no choice but to defend itself amid ongoing nuclear threats to the Asia-Pacific region.

This follows a string of North Korean missile tests which could, in theory, strike Guam - the island which the US considers a key strategic military base to help it stop any potential attacks.

Military presence and activity have been ramping up on the island.

The latest expansion by the US involves a proposal for long range missile tests set to launch in two months' time - the beginning of testing twice a year over the next decade.

Asked whether Guam's Pacific neighbours should be concerned about the proposed missile testing and militarisation, Governor Guerrero said the territory was an "attraction to conflicts" and the presence of the military was necessary to maintain peace.

She said the presence of US armed forces was necessary to prevent China from invading Guam - a sentiment echoed by Washington to underscoring America's positioning in the Pacific which aims to address what it views as Beijing's growing influence across the region.

"If [the US] just get up and leave we will be worse off in terms of peace. I don't want our people to be under Chinese rule. That's a very real threat here."

Last year, China hacked critical infrastructure in Guam when communications systems where down during Typhoon Mawar, which devastated the island in May 2023.

According to the Air Force, the damage sustained at Guam, specifically Andersen Air Base and Joint Region Marianas, from the typhoon was extensive.

'We are part of the Pacific'

China's presence is not new to the region. It has been providing development aid - albeit it is on a decline - and support to Pacific nations for more than 20 years.

However, its diplomatic activities more recently, for example Kiribati and Solomon Islands dumping Taiwan to switch alliances to China, demonstrates Beijing's rising power and influence.

These gains caused some anxiety for the Pacific's traditional partners New Zealand, Australia and the US.

But Pacific Islands Forum leaders have made it clear that geopolitics "means nothing to them", that climate change is the main security threat, and they are "focused on building resilience, peace and prosperity".

Guam has submitted its application to become an associate member of the Forum, with aspirations of full membership.

"We are part of the Pacific. We are Pacific Islanders. We are the most developed Pacific Island in the northern Pacific," Guerrero said.

"We feel very, very strongly that we can contribute to helping improve the lives of our brothers and sisters of Oceania."

Guerrero's chief policy advisor for military and regional affairs, Carlotta Leon Guerrero has been tasked with building relationships with Pacific nations and leaders in the hopes of securing associate membership.

"I want them to know we will add not subtract. We have a lot to offer the region and we want to help, Carlotta said.

The former journalist and humanitarian said she saw the military as a means for providing humanitarian aid and relief to pacific nations in need and hopes to share resources with the rest of the Pacific.

She said military were being trained to be the first port of call for world events in the region and could help the Pacific with peacekeeping.

Military expansion comes a cost - Chamorro advocate

But a contending threat is on the horizon: nuclear missiles being launched from Guam in the name of "defence".

The stance has been scrutinised by indigenous Chamorro activists, like Monaeka Flores, who said the "military expansion represents the continued occupation, the continued colonisation of our island"

She has been protesting outside of Andersen Airbase where long-range missiles are planned to launch from the north of Guam, concerned it would lead to more land loss and threatens the security of the Guamanians and the wider Pacific region.

"Military expansion comes at the cost of the safety of their water, land, community," Flores said.

"Our health would improve without the presence of the military, our housing, our environment would improve. These military bases are not actually keeping us safe."

Flores views war and climate change as connected.

"Look at the war games happening in the Philippines, in Hawaii…all that destruction to the ocean is connected to the climate crisis. We cannot separate those two things. We cannot separate militarisation from colonisation."

While Governor Guerrero agreed climate change was important, she said the territory "had no choice but to defend itself from ongoing threats" and recalled Guam's history of Spanish colonisation and later Japanese occupation 1941 and 1944.

During the Spanish-American War, the US took over in 1898.

Today Guamanians are split between viewing the US as "liberators", while others see the US as "colonisers" having "re-occupied" the island.

She said Guam has and always would be the centre of conflict due to its location in the Pacific region.

Flores reflected on what past conflicts had done to the people of Guam including the "negative health impacts" due to historic nuclear radiation exposure.

"Many generations are having to deal with nuclear radiation exposure a lot of which was classified and kept from us. Many people didn't know they were being exposed to Agent Orange and nuclear radiation.

"We really do have to assess this incoming project as something that is going to cause a lot of harm. How can we anticipate more harm when we haven't reconciled with the harms we are still facing?" she added.