A far-flung Taiwan island risks triggering a US-China clash

Taking Pratas Island -- located closer to Hong Kong than Taiwan -- could give China a new launching ground for future military operations without provoking a full-scale conflict with the US. - NASA photo

TAIPEI (Bloomberg): When 28 Chinese warplanes streaked through the skies around Taiwan on Tuesday (June 15) -- the largest such incursion this year -- they followed a pattern that has generated alarm among US and Taiwanese military planners.

Some of the People’s Liberation Army planes, including bombers, fighter jets and surveillance and reconnaissance aircraft, flew east from the Chinese coast around the southern tip of Taiwan. The rest broke off and briefly darted further south toward tiny Pratas Island in the South China Sea before turning back.