US faces stiff China pushback in SChina Sea – experts

BEIJING: If Donald Trump's hawkish new administration follows through on threats and tries to cut Beijing off from artificial islands in the South China Sea, it could face a stiffer pushback than many imagine, experts say.

The US president and his team have made much of their desire to put Beijing in its place, including in the strategically vital waterway, which China claims almost entirely and where it has reclaimed—and fortified—thousands of acres of land, according to the Pentagon.