"It only takes a spark to get a fire going."
In today’s report, four recent articles about the increasing tensions in the South China Sea are presented. Obviously, this issue is getting increasingly heated. The chances of a mistake being made have grown tremendously.
China is basically looking to establish a no-fly zone over all these disputed territories, including the air space right up to the Philippines. Right after China had declared the air space between China and Taiwan a no-fly zone, Taiwan "accidentally" fired a missile towards China. By mistake? Really?
Yesterday, a US analyst had this to say about the important decision that is expected to come down today: "China appears to be weakening at this time – economically and politically – and the best way to not appear weak is to double down on the nationalist front, or as we say ´the best defense is a good offense´, and with this in mind China may opt to do something tangible in light of the ruling expected tomorrow."
The number of incidents have risen exponentially in the last few years to the point where there is an international incident about once a week between China and somebody else, whether it is Japan, Taiwan, the Philippines etc. And for all of these countries, the United States is mandated through treaties to protect these countries against any foreign aggression. Thus, any action taken by China may need to be addressed by the US.