As China adds finishing touches to many of its man-made islands in the South China Sea, the Obama Administration is mulling over sending a major U.S. Navy surface combatant within those islands’ claimed territorial waters.

This follows President Xi Jinping’s formal visit to the White House, where , although China’s territorial claims in the South China Sea appears not to have been one of them.

With President Xi Jinping in the U.S. for a state dinner, hardcore diplomacy is underway trying to…

This issue has been simmering for years, with nobody in Washington seemingly interested in really confronting it until fairly recently. This is unfortunate as could soon be heavily armed with fighter and maritime patrol aircraft, anti-ship missiles, surface-to-air missiles and a whole slew of sensor capabilities.

China isn't just expanding its military reach into the South China Sea, it's rapidly building…

As a whole, such an entrenched position could allow China to deny access to large portions of the South China Sea, importantly one of the world’s major shipping lanes, to anyone they wish. They could also end up solely controlling large potential energy reserves and fishing resources.

China has taken, including Brunei, the Philippines, Vietnam, Taiwan and Malaysia. They are also quickly building a that will enforce their extra-territorial claims with considerable might.

The idea of a Coast Guard is one that has blurred in recent decades, with US Coast Guard vessels…

U.S. observation flights near China’s islands have also been a point of contention between the two countries, as . Additionally, there have been reports that

A U.S. Navy P-8 Poseidon maritime patrol aircraft flying near China’s man-made islands in the South

Now it seems as if the Pentagon and the White House are racing to figure out what to do about the increasingly volatile situation. Apparently, the most popular option includes sending a U.S. Navy surface combatant to sail closely around the islands. Direct overflights or navigation within the 12 mile territorial zone surrounding China’s man-made islands have not occurred since 2012, when China’s island-building projects were far from complete.

If the Obama Administration approves the plan soon, the ship that will execute it will likely be the Another option would be to send a largely defenseless based in Singapore to execute the mission. Sending an LCS instead of a destroyer would send a softer message to China and the ship’s shallow draft and high-speed would lower some of the mission’s inherent risk.

The idea is for the U.S. Navy to exercise its freedom of navigation in the area in order to a set a precedent with China that they cannot simply switch off international maritime law at will. In fact, even if the U.S. recognized China’s man-made islands and their territorial claims, they could still pass within 12 miles of their shores under the right of innocent passage, . An act that came and went without American protest.

The Chief Of Naval Operations, Admiral John Richardson, is playing down the potential operation,

“The United States is a global power and it has a global Navy... and it should not be a surprise to anybody that we will exercise freedom of navigation through wherever international law will allow.

We do this routinely around the world. We are present in the South China Sea routinely. And so we see this as part of exercising international rights in international waters.”

Although the CNO’s statement is accurate, there is clearly more weighing on such an operation than just exercising international navigational rights. The Chinese have been extremely sensitive when it comes to American and other ships and aircraft approaching their man-made islands. Having a U.S. destroyer cruise within these islands’ claimed territorial waters would be viewed by China as a massive escalation in power projection by the US.

What China could do to push back against a U.S. Navy patrol around their manufactured Islands, without actually firing on a U.S. Navy ship? They could use their fishing boats to block the ship’s path and harass it. They could also lock the ship up with various weapons system’s fire control radars while they transit the area, and they could closely shadow the U.S. Navy ship with their imposing Coast Guard vessels, issuing a continuous wave of warnings.

Regardless of what tactics China may apply, if the order is given and a U.S. Navy vessel pushes into their claimed territorial waters in the South China Sea, it will be a tense affair to say the least. As for a coalition to help send a clear message to China, it does not appear one is coalescing. As of now the but are not going to send vessels themselves and the

It is now a waiting game to see if the White House executes the plan, the results of which could run from routine to dangerously spectacular.

Contact the author [email protected]

Ship photos via US Navy, all others via AP