"A combat-ready Chinese patrol reached reefs and islands in the center of the Spratly archipelago on Tuesday and immediately began to assert China’s sovereignty over the disputed area in the West Philippine Sea (South China Sea).
China sent the patrol to provide muscle to its demand in late June that Vietnam correct a new law that put the Paracel Islands and Spratly Islands under Vietnamese sovereignty.
The dispute between China and Vietnam over the new maritime law, which had been in the works for years, is the latest example of Beijing’s determination to tell its Asian neighbors that the strategic waterway is China’s preserve.
The Chinese patrol arrived two days before the Philippine government was to decide when to send back maritime vessels to Scarborough Shoal, a resource-rich reef north of the Spratlys that both countries claim."
http://globalnation.inquirer.net/430...puted-waterway
