In the scope of a larger geostrategic picture, Taiwan is also located in the rimland of the East Asia inner sea, the so-called Asiatic Mediterranean, which is described by Nicholas John Spykman's book, The Geography of the Peace (1944), as Formosa.
Spykman provided the insight that it is the rimland that the real struggle for mastery has taken place since the great naval battle in Asia-Pacific ocean during World War II happened largely in the inner sea.
Halford John Mackinder also modified his earlier Heartland Theory and published an article The round world and the winning of the peace in 1943 Foreign Affairs to emphasize the importance of rimlands and marginal seas.
The GCTF cooperation address issues on international humanitarian assistance, public health, environmental protection, energy, technology, education and regional development.
[15][16] To People's Liberation Army Navy's naval planners, the control of Taiwan has strategic value, as a gateway to the Pacific Ocean.