Commentary
The Chinese regime’s increasingly aggressive and militarily-backed behavior has, unsurprisingly, sparked a backlash of counter-arming on the part of much of Southeast Asia.
China has increasingly used its growing military power to dominate the environs around the South China Sea. It has, for example, built up its naval forces on Hainan Island, deploying nuclear submarines, modern destroyers, and maritime attack aircraft.
Woody Island, one of China’s largest possessions in the South China Sea, has undergone a dramatic military expansion in recent years, including a 2,700-meter runway that can accommodate most Chinese fighter jets, an improved harbor, and the deployment of long-range HQ-9B surface-to-air missiles (SAMs)….