Robert Wade and Dic Lo, in a letter published by the Financial Times recently argued that China’s actions in the South China Sea and the Pacific have merely been attempts to catch up and respond to those activities occurring outside its borders. In their letter, academics Wade and Lo said China has controlled most of the Paracel Islands since 1946; that China’s recent placement of an oil rig near the Paracels was simply an effort to catch up with other countries, whose own oil rigs were placed in the far more contentious Spratly Islands; and that China’s actions are in response to neighbors emboldened by the return of the US to the region.