US deploys marines in South China Sea as tensions SOAR - ‘We must show China ...

Tensions continue to soar between China and the US (Image: GETTY)

Revisiting a strategy used in World War Two, the US Marines have been deployed in order to practise their tactic of taking small islands in the region. Deployed on the Japanese island of Iejima, the Marines captured an airfield as they practised their tactic of “securing advanced footholds”. Although the exercise was not an outward show of aggression towards Beijing, US Marine Corps General, Joseph Dunford admitted that it was essential that the US shows its dominance against Asian power.

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General Dunford said: “It is critical for us to be able to project power in the context of China.

“If you look at the island chains and so forth in the Pacific as platforms from which we can project power, that would be a historical mission for the Marine Corps and one that is very relevant in a China scenario.”

China has tried to increase its dominance in the region by claiming multiple islands within the country’s nine-dotted line strategy.

Due to that strategy, China has claimed multiple islands which have led to disputes with neighbouring countries.