Well this is interesting.......Asia(east asia/SCS) sure is a complex region. The region is more complicated than what we in the west might think. II seems to not just be a China vs the other claimants in SCS. The thing is, all the claimants in SCS/spratly islands all have disputes among themselves I.e Indonesia, Philippines, Taiwan, Vietnam, Malaysia, Brunei, Thailand.Singapore.
We should note that Malaysia, Cambodia, Thailand and Vietnam have disputes over areas in the Gulf of Thailand.
Then Vietnam, China, and Taiwan over waters west of the Spratly Islands. Some or all of the islands themselves are also disputed between Vietnam, China, Taiwan, Brunei, Malaysia, and the Philippines.
Also Singapore and Malaysia along the Strait of Johore and the Strait of Singapore.
Indonesia, China, and Taiwan over waters NE of the Natuna Islands
The Philippines, China, and Taiwan over Scarborough Shoal. Etc etc...there other such disputes which I might have missed.
So these region/dispute is indeed a very complex one which our media seem to downplay while emphasizing on just a one country vs all the others. Unfortunately reality is different. We should also note that Vietnam and phillipnes had a conflict over some of these islands they both claimed, where Vietnam seized some islands from the Philippines which it still occupies today. I don't find anything wrong in this, if these countries can't agree to share ownership/resources in the region among themselves, then they should just fight it over and the winner/strongest takes it all and let's get it over with . They should be act like adults and find a compromise to slve this disputes or better still share it among themselves equally/joint ownership, this might even serve as a model for other countries in the world on how to solve disputes. Of they don't want to, then just fight and let's see who comes on top and takes the islands and we can all have peace.
Asia needs to put aside their ego/differences and learn to work together for the greater good of the region. Else I don't see how this disputes can ever be solved when there are so many claimants.
Finally it will be interesting to see what happens in the coming years as Vietnam expands its land reclamation on thebisands it holds/controls and Taiwan tries to reaassrt it control on the largest spratlys island it controls. They indeed might clash at some point. However if this happens,, I'm not sure Taiwan will be able to defeat Vietnam giving Vietnam will soon be receiving advanced kilos submarines from Russia, meanwhile Taiwan(though having more advanced surface vessels than Vietnam) has none and won't have one anytime soon untill late 2020s at best. Lol
Interesting times we are living in.