China's Neighbors Are Worried About Its Ambitions

On Wednesday, Dyfed Loesche, a data journalist at Statista, wrote a report on the Asia Pacific region, highlighting that China's neighbors which include Japan, Vietnam, Philippines and South Korea, are concerned about China’s ambitions. This report comes off of news that China is expanding its presence in the South China Sea, with the rights and ownership of small islands in the area that are coming into play.

Directly regarding the sovereignty of the small islands in the South China Sea, Loesche wrote, “Fears regarding China's ambitions are fueled by the construction or enhancement of runways and a military buildup in that area. Taiwan, who has a long and quarrelsome history of its own with Mainland China, now claims that the Chinese military has stationed missiles on Woody Island, which the Chinese call Yongxing. The Chinese foreign ministry criticized the media for blowing the issue out of proportions."

Loesche cites reports coming from the BBC that China has deployed long-range surface to air missiles in the South China Sea as a show of force. While it remains to be seen how China will react to foreign criticism over the recent events, President Barack Obama has publically called for the Chinese to stop their rapid militarization of the area.