Asia: On the Rocks

U.S. efforts to construct an "armed peace" in the Asia-Pacific are only encouraging a cycle of escalation.
By John Feffer, June 17, 2015 | http://fpif.org/asia-is-on-the-rocks/
Island disputes are a big thing in Asia. Japan and China both claim the Senkaku/Diaoyu islands. Japan and South Korea tussle over Dokdo/Takeshima. Japan and Russia still haven’t definitively sorted out who owns the Kuriles/Northern Territories.
You’d think that these existing island disputes are a sufficient headache. But no: Countries in the region are making the maritime equivalent of mountains out of molehills. They are actually creating more islands, and thus more disputes.
The most prominent offender in the news these days is China, which has reclaimed 2,000 acres of sea around the Spratly Islands in the South China Sea. It’s built an airstrip on the Fiery Cross Reef, which had hitherto only been a couple of rocks jutting out of the sea, and installed two mobile artillery guns as well.