The U.S. And China Are Drawing Their Battle Lines Over The South China Sea

Japan Times/Bloomberg: Disputed shoal may become military line in sand on South China Sea

HONG KONG – Global defense chiefs meeting in a plush hotel in Singapore over the weekend were faced with one of Asia’s biggest looming security challenges, but left without any tangible sense of how to tackle it.

The elephant in the room at the Shangri-La security forum was a uninhabited shoal about 230 kilometers (143 miles) from the Philippine coast, a triangle of reef and rocks that barely stretches above high tide. Occupied by China since 2012, the Scarborough Shoal threatens to become the biggest flash point in disputes over the South China Sea.

U.S. Adm. John Richardson raised the prospect of China building on the shoal in March and the following month the U.S. sent air force planes into its vicinity. An airstrip there would add to China’s network of runways and surveillance sites that U.S. Pacific Command chief Harry Harris said last year would create “a mechanism by which China would have de facto control over the South China Sea in any scenario short of war.”

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More News On The Growing Differences Between China And The U.S. Over The South China Sea

Beijing Accuses U.S. of ‘Negative Publicity Campaign’ Over South China Sea Issues -- USNI News
China Pushes Back Against Pressure to Stop South China Sea Activity -- Military.com/FOX News
China does not 'make or fear trouble', top military official says at Shangri-La Dialogue -- Straits Times
'We have no fear of trouble': China talks tough over South China Sea -- CNN
Senior military official elaborates on China's regional security policy at Shangri-La Dialogue -- Xinhua
South China Sea tensions top Asia security summit in Singapore -- DW
U.S. and China Offer Competing Views on Disputed Sea -- NYT
South China Sea: US warns Beijing against building ‘great wall of self-isolation’ -- The Guardian/AFP
In Beijing, John Kerry Calls For Peaceful South China Sea Resolution -- Forbes
It's China vs. the US at sea — and for Beijing, it's personal -- Seema Mody, CNBC