[Zhang Fei]

It's not clear whether this is an instance of (1) the Chinese government feeding red meat to the nation's budding empire-builders, (2) a warning to all who would dispute China's claim to the entire 1.4m sq miles of the South China Sea as Chinese waters or (3) an official policy declaration. If China's neighbors are paying attention, American and European defense contractors should be getting a lot more calls from the region, despite what appears to be an impending regional economic slowdown.

[buwaya]

The Philippines cannot afford to make calls to defense contractors. They can’t afford the sort of defense spending that would deter the Chinese.

I doubt the Vietnamese can either.

[tcrlaf]

Why not, it’s not like Emperor Stupid (Barack Obama) is going to do anything about it, and they KNOW that.

If they are analyzing things, and you can bet they are, they know they only have 12-14 months to make a major move like this.

[vanilla swirl]

Let’s see, keep America from interfering by destroying their fleet in Pearl Harbor. Yea, that should work.............

[Sawdring]

The Pentagon plans to boost its presence in the region by strengthening the military capability of its air, naval and marine bases in Guam are in question because of plans to cut the defense budget.

At the end of the article. Strengthening a base 1,800 miles from the conflict zone seems a little distant to me.

[PapaBear3625]

China has its own vulnerabilities. If a few Chinese container ships happened to sink, that might dampen their enthusiasm. Can the ChiCom Navy provide convoy escort everywhere? And if one sinks, can they be sure who did it?