In June 2012, senior US and Chinese officials met in southern Virginia to discuss a dangerous two-month stand-off taking place in the South China Sea.
Dozens of government vessels and fishing ships from China and the Philippines were massed in the lagoon of Scarborough Shoal, a reef 120 nautical miles from the Philippines’ coast claimed by both countries. A naval conflict seemed a real possibility.
With typhoon season fast approaching, the US tried to broker a resolution. By the end of the meeting between Kurt Campbell, top US diplomat for Asia, and Fu Ying, China’s vice-foreign minister, the US believed it had an agreement for both sides to withdraw. The following week, the ships from the Philippines left the shoal and returned home.
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