Indeed, the treaty has made control of those islands even more important since exclusive economic zones extend far out to sea rather than the much smaller range of national waters pre-treaty.
Further, even if China abandoned all their contested claims in both seas, China's interpretation of exclusive economic zones authorized under the Law of the Seat Treaty would conflict with traditional rules of the sea that allow our military forces to freely transit what has long been international waters.
In the end, defending traditional freedom of navigation will require sufficient military power to prevent China from unilaterally imposing their control over international waters that Peking claims is national territory.
I've droned on about this for a bit now. Despite some claims that we must join the Law of the Sea to influence the crisis, that is simply not true.
The Congressional Research Service has a nice document on the territorial issues involved and related diplomatic and military aspects.
China says the South China Sea is a core interest of China--one which China would go to war over, like control of Taiwan and Tibet. We shall see if these areas are worth the bones of a single Han grenadier.
