China pushes rivals' limits in regional disputes

China’s campaign of confrontation, from remote reefs in Southeast Asia to Taiwan and far-flung Japanese islands, is designed to wear down regional rivals competing with it for contested territories, analysts say. Beijing in recent years has asserted its claims in the long-running disputes far more boldly as its military strength has grown. The escalating actions — over islands in the East China Sea claimed by Japan, the self-ruled territory of Taiwan and the South China Sea — have also come as Beijing's rivals have drawn closer to the United States. "The number of fronts where an accident could spiral suddenly is very real," Dylan Loh, an assistant professor at Singapore's NTU, said.

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