Tensions Are Rising In The South China Sea

A US naval vessel plies the South China Sea in a file photo. Photo: Facebook

Asia Times: South China Sea tensions hot and getting hotter

China warns ominously of ‘unexpected incidents’ as US strives to build anti-China coalition in the waterway.

The United States and China have doubled down on their struggle for dominance of the South China Sea and broader Indo-Pacific, as recent sea confrontations and fiery rhetoric threaten to escalate into conflict.

Bolstered by its ever-expanding and rapidly modernizing Peoples Liberation Army Navy (PLAN), China has shown diminishing restraint in deterring, intercepting and seeking to exclude American naval assets from its claimed adjacent waters.

Boasting one of the world’s largest maritime fleet, with an armada of para-military forces and vessels increasingly acting as force multipliers, the PLAN recently deployed warships and warplanes to intercept America’s littoral combat ships in the South China Sea.

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WNU Editor: The Chinese are even deploying airships in the region .... China appears to have deployed an airship to keep an eye on things around its biggest South China Sea outpost (Business Insider/SCMP).