Chinese Naval Strategy in the South China Sea: An Abundance of Noise and Smoke, But Little Fire‪.‬

South China Sea Naval Strategy Since 2009, the South China Sea has become a focal point of tensions in East Asia. While perhaps not as dangerous as the explosive and unpredictable situation on the Korean Peninsula, tensions in the South China Sea now demonstrate a number of troubling characteristics, including but not limited to rapidly changing power dynamics, arms racing, multiple actors with widely divergent interests, heated rhetoric and popular nationalism, untapped energy resources and a panoply of historical grievances. However, the importance of the South China Sea question may stretch well beyond Southeast Asia. Indeed the South China Sea could be an essential bellwether for determining the future trajectory of the US-China relationship: a relationship that may well determine if the present century is more peaceful than the one that preceded it.