太平洋是地球上最大的海洋,在环太平洋沿岸和浩瀚海洋中星罗棋布的岛屿上,分布着40个国家和一些尚未独立的地区,太平洋地区国家陆地面积占世界的46%,人口占世界的40%,但却拥有全球50%以上的GNP和近1/2的世界贸易总额。二次大战以后,太平洋地区的迅速崛起,引起国际舆论的广泛关注。21世纪是太平洋世纪,已日益被国际社会所公认。本文立足于政治军事地理及地缘政治学的基本理论,以21世纪是太平洋世纪的基本结论为出发点,从资源、经济、政治、军事等四个方面对太平洋在21世纪的重要性进行了系统地分析与评价。指出太平洋不仅是人类有待开发的巨大资源宝库和全球经济最富有活力的地区而且是21世纪全球地缘政治中心和地缘战略中心,是世界上各大国和大国集团矛盾的焦点,以及军费增长最快和军备最密集的地区。在今后相当长一段时期内,围绕太平洋地区控制权的争夺竟会日趋激烈。因此21世纪的世界是走向和平还是步入战争,关键取决于环太平洋地区各种战略力量的矛盾与合作。

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.