‘IT’S NOT CHINA’S MARITIME EMPIRE’: Secretary of State Mike Pompeo’s Monday declaration on China’s expansive claims to the South China Sea has set the stage for a new effort by the United States to rally other nations in the Indo-Pacific region to join in confronting Beijing.

“On Monday, for the first time, we made our policy on the South China Sea crystal clear. It’s not China’s maritime empire,” Pompeo said yesterday at a briefing for reporters. “If Beijing violates the international law and free nations do nothing, then history shows that the CCP will simply take more territory.”