This is a dispute in which only the direct stakeholders (countries whose territorial waters adjoin this area) or international institutions such as the United Nations should get involved. That the US thinks it has the right to barge in is actually the most worrying aspect of this whole situation.
what's actually happening is the Chinese have started harassing neighboring countries in an area 600 miles offshore China and within 100 miles from other countries like Vietnam and other south East Asian countries. By harassing I mean arresting fisherman, cutting seismic cables from oil exploration companies and getting aggressive with any other ships. All these countries want the U.S. to assist in protecting their sovereignty and are asking for help. The UN won't help and no other sea power aside from the U.S. has the ability to help. Look at a map of the red line area China is assuming control over and you will see where some of these areas are. It would be like the U.S. Building artificial islands 100 miles from Spain, building airstrips and arresting any Spanish ships the come nearby. This is not US imperialism it is Chinese expansionism and other countries are asking for our help. It's clear the Chinese wants control of south east Asia and they are acting aggressively to take it.
> This is a dispute in which only the direct stakeholders (countries whose territorial waters adjoin this area) or international institutions such as the United Nations should get involved
I disagree. If you have a military base in or a military or economic cooperation agreement with any of the adjoining nations, or if part of your economy transits the adjoining area, you should feel free to get involved at any time. You take the risk, but really, in a case like this it'd be dumb not to get involved when you are so deeply integrated.
There is a pending UNCLOS case filed against China not only over the Spratly's, but on China's "nine-dash line" claim. China refuses to participate in the arbitration, despite ratifying UNCLOS.
