Mutual threats won’t do

Territorial claim: Soldiers of China’s People’s Liberation Army standing guard in the Spratly Islands. Disputes in the South China Sea, including but not limited to those over the Spratly Islands, have festered for years with little open conflict. — Reuters

ON Thursday, the US navy dispatched a fleet of warships to the South China Sea, which China sees as an escalation of tension in a hotly disputed area.

The aircraft carrier John C. Stennis was accompanied by two destroyers, two cruisers and the Blue Ridge, command ship of the 7th Fleet, departing their respective ports in Japan and the United States to sail into a contested zone. This is on top of the US Pacific Fleet based in Hawaii.