Remember our boyhood days when a bully would place a chip on his shoulder and dare anyone to knock it off? If someone did, the bully had to fight the challenger or else lose face. By building artificial islands on sunken reefs in the Spratlys and claiming sovereignty over nearly all of the South China Sea, China placed a virtual chip on its shoulder, daring the other claimants to the area to knock it off. Vietnam tried and promptly got clobbered.

Macabenta, G. B. (2015, November 6-7). What's the end game in the US-China face-off over the Spratlys?. BusinessWorld, p. S1/6.