State-Run Chinese Newspaper Says War With U.S. In South China Sea Is 'Inevitable'

Breitbart.com reports: "According to commentary in China’s Global Times newspaper:

If the United States’ bottom line is that China has to halt its activities, then a U.S.-China war is inevitable in the South China Sea. The intensity of the conflict will be higher than what people usually think of as ‘friction.’

There are actually two separate (though related) issues here, and it is unclear whether this threat of war applies to one or both issues. As we reported last week, the level of military tension between the US and China escalated substantially when China repeatedly demanded that an American P-8A Poseidon surveillance plane leave the area immediately. The plane was surveilling China’s man-made islands in the Spratly Islands in the South China Sea. So the first issue is that China is demanding an end to American surveillance activities over the Spratly Islands. The second issue is that the US State Dept. is demanding an end to China’s island-building..."