Well, it is clear that the US strategy is to use its assets (Principally P-8A Posiedon aircraft and US Navy vessels) to monitor, keep track of, and report on Chinese activities in the SCS.
That is not surprising.
More pictures from these aircraft are appearing now, showing Chinese submarines and surface vessels in the South China Sea. Hardly any surprises there...but nice pics just the same:
See my
Whether this effort to reveal the full effort by the Chinese and seek to associate military activities with it is going to have any real impact remains to be seen.
I believe as so long at the PRC continues its reclamation efforts...and then improvements and building efforts on the resulting islands...and then does not place any truly offensive or game changing weapons systems on the island, that it will all simply be the US documenting what the Chinese are doing.
Otherwise, there is very little the US and others can do about it, and the only real way to counter it is to help other nations try and match the PRC effort.
As I have said numerous times...I do not expect this US Administration to either make an attempt to do that...or to have the influence and leadership skills to make it happen if they did.
In the mean time we can enjoy the pictures...listen to the rhetoric...and sit back and see what happens. The P-8A is certainly getting exercised however, and that will be good as it continues to be introduced by the US Navy around the world.
