The simmering South China Sea dispute is getting closer to boiling over—with Beijing’s fighter jets buzzing U.S. spy planes and now sightings of a high-tech new surveillance drone.
China has dramatically escalated its military expansion into the disputed waters and airspace of the South China Sea.
Deploying ships, jet fighters, and, reportedly, a high-tech surveillance drone, Beijing is moving quickly to cement its claims on strategic islands, while also forcefully rebuffing America’s own military moves in the region.
The Chinese escalation began in dramatic fashion on May 10, when the Chinese air force scrambled J-11 fighter jets to tail the U.S. Navy destroyer USS William P. Lawrence as the 500-foot-long warship sailed in international waters 12 miles from a new military installation Beijing has built on Fiery Cross Reef in the South China Sea between Vietnam and the Philippines.
http://www.thedailybeast.com/articles/2016/05/20/china-s-giant-spy-drone-stalks-foreign-warships.html