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China has placed one or more acoustic sensors — listening devices — in the Mariana Trench, near the island of Guam, which is home to a major U.S. military base.
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Beijing reportedly sent warships and fighter jets to intercept the USS Stethem near a region it claims near the Paracel Islands.
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An international tribunal rejected China's claims to almost all the South China Sea. China dismissed the ruling. The next flashpoint between the Philippines, China and the U.S.: the Scarborough Shoal.
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A legally binding ruling from an international tribunal invalidated China's claims to the South China Sea. The country's vice foreign minister said, "I hope everybody puts the ruling in a paper bin."
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Beijing rejects the ruling that China's claims are illegal. U.S.-China friction could grow over the Scarborough Shoal, also claimed by the Philippines.
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China has built artificial islands in the disputed waters, which it claims as its own. Now a tribunal in The Hague has ruled those claims invalid.