Last month, the Center for Strategic and Budgetary Assessments, a Washington, D.C., think tank, suggested a new approach in “Countering China’s Adventurism in the South China Sea: Strategy Options for the Trump Administration.” The United States and its close regional allies — primarily Japan and Australia — must “thwart Beijing’s expansionism in the South China Sea and deter further Chinese adventurism,” author Ross Babbage wrote in the white paper. “The Chinese are now close to claiming effective sovereignty over the South China Sea, one of the world’s most important strategic waterways,” he wrote. “They have by far the largest military, coast guard and maritime militia presence in the region; they are deploying strong surveillance, anti-air, anti-shipping and strike forces onto the artificial islands they occupy; and they are actively intimidating other parties in the area.”
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