Quote (Saucisson6000 @ Aug 15 2017 04:12pm)
You properly understood the situation: China is trying to take the lead, and for a "good" reason: investors.
Investors are leaving China, this is a serious problem (for them).
For now the trust is going to the west; military power & international status.
Well I can understand China trying to take the lead. They do have way too many people in China, they need to take the lead. However, it seems that what the want to do is absorb all the various countries around the East & South China Seas.
Which would be fine for China, but not for the various countries.
THIS is what all the BS with North Korea is about. Kim Jong knows they can't threaten the U.S. with any meaningful rationality. So why are they doing it?
They are doing it because China is, more or less, forcing them to, in order to keep everyone's eye fixed on what North Korea is doing, rather than what China has been doing.
The NYTimes article in the OP has the details, pretty much.
https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2015/07/30/world/asia/what-china-has-been-building-in-the-south-china-sea.htmlThe maps below show the South China Sea and the area (enclosed in orange dash marks) that China is claiming as it's own.
That area passes $5 Trillion in trade per year, and is the lifeblood of the whole area and the surrounding countries.
In the second picture (below) you can see all the islands and reefs that China has "claimed" and is currently building on (massively).