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384 STRATEGISCHE BETEKENIS
of New Guinea, particularly of the western part of it, now under Dutch sovereignty.
The oil in the Dutch part of New Guinea gives another strategic value, which
may be enhanced through the exploration of raw materials and by the development
of the agricultural possibilities, for instance rubber output. This development
and that of the population will facilitate and enlarge the possibilities of
using more and more the country's potentialities for its own defense.
The physical situation of the country renders every large scale movement of
modern troops on the ground very difficult if not impossible. The defense has
to resort to the strategic mobility of air- and sea power, operating from a net of
strongpoints, protected by ground forces. Mobile forces for amphibian enterprise
should be at hand to support the defense of these strongpoints when attacked.
Confronting the constant factors with the varying, one can formulate the
following conceptions:
a. New Guinea is depending on political circumstances from a strategic point
of view of real importance to the East-Asiatic defense of the U.S.A. and of the
'Home defense' of Australia, at the same time being an important link in their
common defense, if united;
b. Unless Indonesia is not on speaking terms with America and Australia,
New Guinea is of secondary importance for the defense of Indonesia, laying on
the rear of the menacing Asiatic front;
c. The potential strategic importance necessitates for each government, under
whose jurisdiction New Guinea is placed, to develop its defense accordingly;
d. The principles of this defense are the exploitation of the strategic mobility
of air- and sea power, operating from a system of strongpoints, protected by
troops with the possibility of reinforcement by amphibian forces;
e. All transport vehicles for the mobile defense may be used in peacetime to
stimulate the economic development of the country and its population in order
to prepare both for participation in its own defense.