China refuses to back down in South China Sea dispute - Institute for Maritime and Ocean Affairs

China’s development of manmade islands in the disputed South China Sea is raising alarms over an increased political and possible military standoff in the region.

Fox News National Security Analyst KT McFarland spoke to foreign policy experts Timothy Heath and Karen Brooks about the unraveling situation.

Both suggest the fragile peace between the many countries involved could break down very quickly.

“The risk is growing that a miscalculation on the part of either China or any of the other rival claimants could escalate into a situation nobody wants – this is something that is of greatest concern to all sides, including the U.S. and Chinese leadership,” said Heath, senior international defense research analyst at the global policy think tank RAND Corporation.

“The conflict in the South China Sea is nothing new. The Chinese have been claiming more or less the entirety of the South China Sea since as far back as the 1950s,” Brooks, an adjunct senior fellow for Asia with the Council on Foreign Relations, told FoxNews.com.