On Dangerous Ground is a 2022 book on the competing interests of various countries in the South China Sea.
Poling examines 100 years of America’s agenda, interference, and involvement in the politics of the South China Sea. It is a fascinating story.
Poling is touted as a leading expert in this area. The truth is that he became an expert after finishing this book. He so acknowledged his debts to the ‘ experts’ he consulted in his Acknowledgments. (see p vii).
An interesting fact is that while the newspapers and so-called experts questioned the ” nine-dash line” claimed by China, what is not stated is that the same area is also claimed by Taiwan using the name’ U-shape line’.
This claim by China and Taiwan is not new as readers of newspapers would be led to believe.
The claim was first made by provincial authorities in Canton who were alarmed by the French annexing islands belonging to the Paracels and the Japanese claiming the Spratleys. [p 14-15].
At that time the central government in Peking was distracted by domestic turmoil. By the late 1920s the Nationalist government under Chiang Kai shek were taking steps to assert China’s interests by sending missions to survey the islands and protesting claims by Japan, French Vietnam and the Phil.