China's vulnerability in the South China Sea

THE developing situation in the South China Sea continues to escalate. The American ambassador to China has been called in for a dressing-down by the foreign ministry in Beijing after a long-awaited freedom-of-navigation exercise by the US Navy was conducted within 12 nautical miles of artificial islands in the Spratly archipelago.

The freedom-of-navigation exercise of the US Navy was transformative. In a larger sense, the exercise transformed the nature of the dispute: No longer is it a regional territorial dispute between several claimant states; rather, the South China Sea dispute is now emblematic of the great power competition between the United States and China, and the front line is in an evolving and complex situation.

The means and process by which we have arrived here are fairly straightforward.