Sanya Letter: Contest for supremacy in depths of South China Sea

A Sowerby's beaked whale: Underwater explosions and the use of sonar upset whales and dolphins so much that they swim away, often into shallower waters where they become stranded and die off the coast near Sanya. Photograph: Whitehead Lab Subject to conflicting territorial and maritime claims by China and at least five other countries and a focus of interest for many more, the South China Sea is one of the most highly militarised stretches of water in the world. China conducts regular military exercises, as does the United States which had a joint navy and marine corps exercise there over…