Given China’s position as a classic Asian land power and America’s role as an oceanic hegemon, a military challenge has emerged in the near seas close to China through which the essentials of modern industrial power flow – oil, to name just one. That means the control of the South China Sea is the next step in the establishment of a New Chinese Empire. As in 1938, when Poland lay between the Wehrmacht and the Red Army, the Philippines is the weak point between the U.S. and China. It is common knowledge that America intends to ring the South China...