US has limited room for manoeuvre on South China Sea

REX Tillerson, picked by US President-elect Donald Trump to be secretary of state, stirred up a hornet's nest when he condemned Chinese actions in the South China Sea, comparing the construction of artificial islands in disputed waters with Russia's seizure of Crimea and saying that China's access to the islands "is not going to be allowed".

As to how this would be done, he replied: "The way we've got to deal with this is we've got to show back-up in the region with our traditional allies in South-east Asia."

Just who are these traditional allies? Why, the Philippines and Thailand…