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Strategically critical Pacific island divided over growing US military presence
Indigenous Chamorro man Ron Acfalle is reviving traditional practices in Guam, such as canoe building and sailing. (ABC News: Kent Velesrubio)
In the glistening waters of Tumon Bay, a traditional canoe catches the wind.
At its helm is boat builder Ron Acfalle, who has sailing in his blood.
"We came from the ocean," he says. "We didn't sprout from the ground."
Ron is an Indigenous Chamorro from Guam, a 50-kilometre-long island in the Western Pacific and an unincorporated territory of the United States.
He is reviving the lost art of canoe-building and sailing, practices once banned under colonial rule.
Ron Acfalle served with the US Marines for four years and wants young people on Guam to have alternatives. (ABC News: Kent Velesrubio)
Guam likely to be destroyed in the case of military conflict according to US Report
A recent security assessment has found US military facilities on Guam, Yap and Saipan could be destroyed in a potential war between the US and China over Taiwan.
Chair of the Pacific Centre for Island Security, Robert Underwood says that Guam are left with little voice in these matters.
"In the process of conducting and militarising these areas, Guam and the northern Marianas are not consulted. In a sense, they're sort of handed memos. We're going to do this…you can't really stop it," Mr Underwood said.
Robert Underwood, Chair of the Pacific Centre for Island Security(Supplied)
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