Originally Posted by
rube
But all that aside, it looks like the Chinese are desperate to expand their holdings, especially if they can drill for anything around those islands they built.
Far beyond that...they want the entire south china sea, a claim grossly in excess of established international convention. They will probably eventually build a chain of artificial atolls and even moored structures to provide a seamless series of "sovereign territory" on which to bolster their claims.
They can claim all the want...the real question is how hard will they dare to back the claims and who will be willing to stand up to them?