US, CN Joust in South China Sea

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Mark MacKinnon, In the South China Sea, Two Superpowers Flex Their Muscles. Globe and Mail, May 29, 2012.
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/n ... les/article2445937/

Quote:

"The Scarborough Shoal, a triangle of rocks and reefs in the South China Sea, is so small that much of it disappears underwater at high tide.

"Some say the South China Sea is a maritime version of Central Asia during the 'Great Game,' the 19th-century era in which empires jousted using proxy armies without ever coming into direct conflict. In Central Asia, it was Russia and Britain who duelled from the shadows. In today’s South China Sea, it’s the world’s latest superpowers, China and the US

"The standoff at the Scarborough Shoal – named for a tea-trading ship that sunk there in the 1800s – began in April, when a Filipino warship blocked five Chinese vessels that it accused of illegally fishing in the area.

"Only in recent years has Beijing had the naval capability to back its claim to most of the South China Sea. In an indication of shifting priorities, the South Fleet of the People’s Liberation Army Navy – long the smallest of the China’s three fleets – is now on the verge of becoming the biggest as China expands its submarine base on southern Hainan Island. When China’s first aircraft carrier, the refitted Soviet ship Varyag, is finally deployed (it’s currently in sea trials), many expect it will also join the South Fleet.

Note:
(a) Scarborough Shoal
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Scarborough_Shoal
(The shoal was named after the [British] East India Company tea-trade ship Scarborough which was wrecked on one of its rocks with everyone perishing on board on Sept 12, 1784)
(b) The English surname Scarborough is named after Scarborough on the coast of North Yorkshire, so named from the Old Norse byname Skarði + Old Norse borg ‘fortress’, ‘fortified town.'  Dictionary of American Family Names, Oxford University Press

Scarborough, North Yorkshire
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Scarborough,_North_Yorkshire