This is CBS I On The World with John Bacheler.

Here's John Bacheler.

The Sipad, the Northern Mariana Islands.

This is the United States of America.

The Oceania is the large story.

Indo-Pacific is the command for the U.S. Navy.

And Oceania is the contest between the People's Republic of China,

the United States of America, and our allies battling for the islands

and the reach of Oceania initially in the contest of favoring Taiwan or favoring the mainland.

But generally speaking, we're talking about the defense of the U.S.

and the defense of our allies, Australia, Japan, the Philippines, in East Asia.

Cleopascal of the Foundation for the Defense of Democracies has been traveling this vast territory.

We last spoke when she was in Palau.

Palau, the Federated States of Micronesia, and the Marshall Islands describe three different sovereign states

that associate themselves with the United States for defense.

Cleo identifies it as the corridor of freedom between Hawaii and the Philippines

or these three sovereign states in the event of conflict.

Any one of those states in the possession of the People's Liberation Army Navy

would cut the ability of the U.S. to resupply the Philippines and Japan and Taiwan.

You look at the map. It's the same as in 1944.

Cleo, a very good day to you in Saipan. This is the largest of the Northern Mariana Islands.

And we speak of it as the United States of America.

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