USS Barry undertook ‘freedom of navigation operation’ in area Beijing claims as under Chinese jurisdiction.
China’s renewed assertiveness may be driven by both domestic and external factors as Beijing seeks to bolster support at home for its tough security stance, while showing rival claimants and the US that maritime and sovereignty issues will not be sidelined amid the pandemic
China’s harassment of Malaysia’s ongoing oil exploration in its coastal waters—but which Beijing deems as within the vast maritime area that it disputes in the South China Sea—has reinvented the norm and set new rules against any future development in the area by other claimant states
The long-delayed, highly anticipated code of conduct in the coveted waterway will unlikely restrain China’s assertive actions, says US-based Asia maritime expert Greg Poling