Oct. 01, 2024 |
The most dangerous place in the world. A month ago, a Chinese coast-guard ship rammed into one from the Philippines, tearing a three-foot hole in its hull—after Chinese vessels had been harassing it for months—near a reef in the South China Sea’s Spratly Islands. It wasn’t China’s only confrontation with its neighbors in the area this year, either. Back in June, at another reef in the island chain, a Filipino sailor even lost a finger when a Chinese vessel collided with his dinghy. What’s going on in the South China Sea?
Today, Isaac B. Kardon looks at Beijing’s strategy in this quarter of the Pacific—and the big gamble it’s taking on the United States’ willingness and ability to let China become the dominant naval power there.
—Michael Bluhm
