To project strength at home and exploit an unprecedented security vacuum caused by the Covid-19 pandemic, China is doubling down on its expansive claims to the contested South China Sea.

China’s State Council, the country’s chief administrative authority, announced in recent days the establishment of two new administrative districts in the South China Sea.

Chinese state media dubbed the little noticed distinction as a “major administrative move”, one that could put Beijing on a new collision course with rival claimants in the maritime area.

....In that direction, Beijing introduced on April 18 the Xisha and Nansha districts under the aegis of Sansha City, itself a new prefecture-level unity first established in 2012 on the Woody (Yongxing) Island in the sea’s Paracel island chain that China contests with Vietnam.

Host to 1,800 permanent residents, Sansha covers around two million square kilometers of contested waters, rich maritime resources and a host of low-tide elevations, atolls, islets, rocks and artificial islands.

hunter8 wrote: ↑Wed Apr 22, 2020 1:27 pm They know it’s just a flu, they know the infections rate is a hundred times higher bringing the mortality rate down to that of a flu.