U.S. Navy Patrols May Prod China to Clarify Claims to Isles

Proposed U.S. military “freedom of navigation” operations in the South China Sea may prod China to more clearly explain what it considers to be its territory -- and why.

While countries like the U.S. and the Philippines have long urged China to set out the legal basis for its claim to more than 80 percent of the South China Sea, leaders in Beijing have relied on history and a nine-dash line drawn on a 1940s map, alongside their increased military clout.