We and our allies need to keep a major naval presence.
No one else except the USA has the ability, or especially the interest or courage, to challenge China in the South China Sea. China has declared it their own lake, and the world has meekly accepted it.
The chicom’s were touchy about the Paracels even way back in the early ‘70s. We were advised to give them a wide berth while flying patrols even then. Never laid eyes them but saw pretty much everything else in th South China Sea.
Ahhh. Those were good times. /s
The time to put a stop to this was back one to two administrations ago.
The only way to shut down China, is to give it zero
international trade and cancel our trade debt with them.