David met Goliath on a tiny spit of rock and sand off the western coast of Luzon in the Philippines earlier this month. The giant here is China, with the Philippines as the puny David, and the confrontation occurred in Scarborough Shoal, an atoll-like collection of reefs, rocks and sandbars in the South China Sea. ...
Political analysts have pointed out that China may be painting itself into a diplomatic corner in its attempts to lay exclusive claim to the South China Sea and its resources and risks eroding the "soft power" gains it made through fostering trade ties to regional countries.
But just having such a clash could motivate other countries with territorial disputes to actively work to win a similar clash with China.
And having such a clash does risk certain complications that China cannot handle yet.
