While Vietnam would welcome American warships sailing near the disputed islands, other Southeast Asian counties would be concerned about escalating militarisation.
China's leaders would very reluctantly back down if they were truly convinced that the alternative was war with America. But how would the US convince them of that?
The White House seems to regard FONOPs as a means to induce Chinese concessions on the North Korean nuclear issue. This is not what these patrols are designed for.
Boris Johnson’s ebullient pronouncements last week on a future Royal Navy freedom of navigation operation in the Indo-Pacific region have attracted attention, but also criticism.
Beijing is not just trying to take control of an important body of water. It is trying to take control of East Asia and hopes to use the South China Sea dispute to do that.
The Jokowi Administration is not the first Southeast Asian government to use name changes to obscure adverse developments on the water in the South China Sea.
Fissures have erupted within Labor over whether Australia should join the US in conducting freedom of navigation operations (FONOPs) in the South China Sea.