A naval soldier of the Chinese People’s Liberation Army views through binoculars aboard China’s first aircraft carrier, Liaoning, as it visits a military harbor in the South China Sea. Xinhua photo. It is small, poor, and far away, so most Americans probably don’t know or care about it. However, the Federated States of Micronesia (FSM) is one of the most crucial strategic battlegrounds in the U.S.–China struggle for influence and power projection in the Pacific. China wants the FSM because its islands sit inside the second island chain and give any power that controls them a direct hold over U.S. military movement, surveillance routes, and supply lines across the Pacific. A foothold there would let Beijing break America’s defensive perimeter and project power deep into…
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