The United States is ready to confront China should it press ahead with its overreaching maritime claims in the South China Sea, adm. Harry Harris, head of the US Pacific Command, said on Wednesday. The comments threaten to stoke tensions between the United States and China. China claims most of the resource-rich South China Sea through which about $5 trillion in ship-borne trade passes every year. The United States has called on China to respect the findings of the arbitration court in The Hague earlier this year which invalidated its vast territorial claims in the strategic waterway.

US to confront Chinese moves in disputed Sea. (2016, December 16). Philippine Daily Inquirer, pp. A1, A22.