Abstract：The Pacific Ocean is the biggest one among the oceans, and there are 40 nations and some independent regions on its vast ocean surface. The land area of the nations around the Pacific Ocean accounts for 46 percent of the world, and the population 40 percent on the earth, but the nations have over 50 percent of the GNP in the world, and about 1/2 total amount of the worldwide trade. That the nations in the Pacific Ocean have risen rapidly and unexpectedly after the 2nd world war makes the world pay close attention to this vast ocean. It is increasingly recognized by the international society that the 21st century will be the century of the Pacific Ocean.
Based on the basic theories of political-military geography and geopolitics, an important evaluation of the Pacific Ocean in this century ranging from the resources, politics, economics and military has been analyzed in the article. It points out that the Pacific Ocean is not only the great resource thesaurus for the mankind to develop, the most active region in the worldwide economy, but also the centers of worldwide geo-politics and geop-stratagem, the contradictory focus of the main countries or nation groups in the world, in the meanwhile, the region is one of the most fast developing regions fast developing regions in military expenditures and the most densely armed areas.
It can be safely predicted that the contends for the control rights of the Pacific Ocean will become tense within quite long time in the future, so it pivotally depends on the conflicts and co-operations of the strategic forces in the region surrounding the Pacific Ocean whether the world will become peaceful or war field in the 21st century.
王国梁. 21世纪的太平洋——在政治、经济、军事上的重要性评价[J]. 人文地理, 2003, 18(2): 70-74.
WANG Guo-liang. THE IMPORTANT EVALUATION ON THE POLITICAL, ECONOMIC AND MILITARY OF THE PACIFIC OCEAN IN THE 21ST CENTURY. HUMAN GEOGRAPHY, 2003, 18(2): 70-74.
