The People’s Liberation Army (PLA) Southern Theatre Command has announced a fresh round of naval and air patrols around Scarborough Shoal, the coral outcrop that has become the unlikeliest flashpoint of the Indo-Pacific’s simmering strategic contest. The declaration, terse but loaded with strategic subtext, was dispatched into the global news stream by China’s official channels … Continue reading South China Sea Tensions Surge as China Steps Up Patrols around Scarborough Shoal