Economy & Trade
South China Sea Standoff — The Escalation Spiral Neither Side Can Exit
⚡ FAST READ1-min read Overlapping US and Chinese military exercises in the South China Sea in early 2026 have pushed the probability of accidental armed conflict to its highest level in decades, threatening to drag in treaty allies like Japan and destabilize the entire Indo-Pacific security order. ── 3 Key Points ───────── * • The