Crashback: The Power Clash Between the U.S. And China in the Pacific

"Out in the Pacific Ocean, there is a war taking place. It is a 'warm war,' a pushing and shoving match between the United States, since WWII the uncontested monarch of the seas, and China, which now possesses the world's largest maritime force. Each day, the heat between the combatants rises as the Chinese, who suffer from centuries-long memories of humiliation, try to claim the South China Sea for their own, and the Americans, who prize freedom of navigation, insist on an open corridor. Throughout Southern Asia, countries with naval forces far smaller than China's react with outrage and growing fear as their bullying neighbor turns coral reefs below the water's surface into manmade islands capable of supporting airstrips and then, with a claim of territory, enforces twelve-mile-radius shoot-down zones. The immediate danger is that the five trillion dollars in international trade that passes through the area will grind to a standstill. The ultimate danger is that the US and China will be drawn into all-out war." --