Hainan, an island located thousands of miles away from the United States, has come into focus as American officials divulge more details about the Chinese balloon shot down on Feb. 4 after crossing U.S. territory.
Hainan is renowned as the "Hawaii of China" because it is a tropical island paradise where the Chinese middle class can enjoy sandy beaches, five-star resorts, and duty-free luxury shopping.
It also hosts the Boao Forum, an annual gathering of political and commercial leaders called "Asia's Davos" However, Hainan, the southernmost province of China, is also a strategically significant island. And, like Hawaii, it is home to important military bases.
CNN reports that U.S. intelligence sources believe the Chinese balloon is part of a large-scale monitoring program operated in part from Hainan.
China has dismissed U.S. assertions that the balloon was a spy device, insisting instead that it was a civilian research airship that had veered off track. However, the island, which is positioned at the northern tip of the South China Sea, is of immense strategic significance to the Chinese military.
U.S. officials told The New York Times that they have been tracking the balloon since it took off from Hainan at the end of January.
The precise location of the claimed balloon launch site on Hainan has not been disclosed by American officials, and it is unknown whether the balloon was launched from a military installation.
Out of sight of tourists and business visitors, the People's Liberation Army (PLA) Navy's South Sea Fleet is stationed at a significant base on the southern edge of Hainan.
The station gives the PLA Navy access not only to the contentious seas of the South China Sea, but also to the vital sea route connecting the Asia-Pacific region with India and the Middle East.
The Shandong, China's second aircraft carrier and the first to be constructed domestically, was commissioned in 2019 from this huge naval complex.
The complex is also home to China's expanding submarine fleet's nuclear-powered ballistic missiles and attack submarines.
When commercial satellites filmed a PLA Navy sub entering a tunnel connecting to subsurface docking facilities on the island in 2020, the Yulin Naval Base grabbed headlines.
China expanded its submarine facility on Hainan as recently as September 2022, adding two new piers to the four piers already present at the Yulin Naval Base.
Hainan is approximately 20 times the size of O'ahu, the most populous island in Hawaii and location of Pearl Harbor.
