America vs. China in South China Sea: Aircraft Carrier Face-Off Now In the Cards?

   This article details Chinese action in the South China Sea. It talks about how China have moved ships from all three of their fleets to conduct joint battle drills in the South China Sea. The article also talks about how the Chinese carrier is not a mission ready carrier due to its many deficiencies and retrofitted design when compared to U.S. carriers. The article doesn't detail the whole situation however so here is a brief synopsis. China has laid claim to other countries waters  and international water in the South China Sea. This goes against the UN since they have no right to the waters and they claim waters that are part of the exclusive economic zone of many nations in the South China Sea/Pacific such as the Philippines. To solidify their claim they have created fake islands by dumping dirt on coral reaves. They have installed military bases on these islands to support their naval forces as well as base planes, missiles, and radar. Additionally they have laid siege to islands that contain foreign military personel or civilians to take them over without causing international outrage with blood shed. The US has taken limited action with most of it being sailing ships or flying planes through the disputed waters to delegitimize Chinese claims. The Chinese Sea is valuable due to its large amount of natural resources, large fishing economy, and large trade flow.

Article- http://nationalinterest.org/blog/the-buzz/america-vs-china-south-china-sea-aircraft-carrier-face-now-25241

                                                                                         -Matthew Wagner

















Picture of South China Sea for reference