Even for the South China Sea, where territorial disputes are hardly uncommon, it has been an eventful, and rancorous start to 2016. As members of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations met with U.S. President Barack Obama last week, reports surfaced that China has deployed surface-to-air missiles on one of the disputed Paracel Islands (known as the Xisha in Chinese). Beijing said the move is part of long-standing national defence policies on its sovereign territory.
