WHY DOES CHINA CARE ABOUT A RUSH BACKET IN THE MIDDLE OF THE SEA.

A dilapidated World War II-era vessel, the Sierra Madre, run aground on a tiny reef in the South China Sea has emerged as a potential flash point that could trigger a regional war, with the Chinese coast guard repeatedly swarming and ramming into Philippine vessels to stop them from resupplying the ship.

Beijing and Manila have now forged a provisional agreement that would allow the Philippines to take supplies out to the ship, hoping that it will end the recent escalation in tensions in the contested waters of the South China Sea.

The intensifying territorial dispute had threatened to drag the United States, a security ally of the Philippines, into another global conflict.