What is motivating China?On the surface, oil would seem to be the reason China has waded into the disputed area but analysts say politics are clearly at play.
"This kind of a move by putting an oil rig in this sort of place, you could say it's a carte blanche to allow China to enhance its naval operations in the region and to project its power further out into the South China Sea," Neill said.
It's not the first time China has stepped on regional sensitivities by making high profile and deliberate incursions into contested tracts. There have been tense encounters between Japan and China over the Senkaku or Diaoyu Islands in recent years, and China has locked horns with the Philippines over competing claims to the Scarborough Shoal.
In a statement released May 7, the U.S. State Department characterized China's latest move as a "part of a broader pattern of Chinese behavior to advance its claims over disputed territory in a manner that undermines peace and stability in the region."
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