China's Escalation In The South China Sea Is Unprecedented

Anti-Chinese rioting in Vietnam, the result of protests that were tolerated and even encouraged by the country's authoritarian government, has left dozens dead this week. The uproar began when China's state oil company moved one of its rigs to an oil block inside of Vietnam's "exclusive economic zone" in the South China Sea; within days, suspected Chinese-owned businesses were being torched and Chinese citizens were fleeing to neighboring countries for safety.

Was the escalation a calculated move by an increasingly-aggressive Beijing? And are the neighboring countries, whose relationship has been marked by over a millennium of tension - and who have fought multiple armed engagements with one another over the past 40 years - hurtling towards an even more dangerous confrontation? A quick rundown of why the situation might be a little different from usual flare-ups over the ever-disputed South China Sea.

Read the full article at Business Insider.