“We should not give a damn about the south China Sea.”
Just curious but how much of the ocean is China allowed to claim as theirs before you give a damn?
Make a deal with them to protect traffic in the South China with a joint force and the problem goes away quickly. The only reason not to make that sort of deal is because having that sort of arrangement would reduce the size of the forces the US has to keep in Asia.
Too bad the Russians don't have a blue water navy like they once did or we could have enough excuses to build four more carriers and a few dozen four billion dollar apiece destroyers like the Zumwalt capable of firing million dollar a round magic Z grams from its super guns.
Unless the Russians build up their fleet again I guess we'll just have to make do with fostering fear of China wanting to protect waters through which 95% of their trade with the world flows instead of working out something with them.
I mean, what kind of evil azz hoes would want to dominate the waters their own vital trade flows through, right?