The United States must project naval power in the South China Sea and help regional allies thwart China's attempt to control a disputed island chain straddling a major global shipping route, U.S. Air Force veteran and writer L. Todd Wood told
Newsmax TV on Thursday.
"China is on a path to basically build a capability to dominate the maritime traffic in the South China Sea," columnist and novelist Wood told "Newsmax Now" co-host John Bachman, noting the sudden appearance of landing strips atop remote reefs in the contested waters.
"That's what all these islands they're building are for, and the U.S. is very concerned about that as well as the allies," he said.
Story continues below video.
Watch Newsmax TV on DirecTV Ch. 349, DISH Ch. 223 and Verizon FiOS Ch. 115. Get Newsmax TV on your cable system — Click Here Now
As a result, Wood predicted, "You're going to see more and more U.S. force projected in the region intentionally to show China that we're serious about protecting free trade in the region."
"The U.S. has no choice," he added.
After 10 days of
expanded war games in the region with the Philippines in April, the Pentagon is now weighing a deployment of U.S. military aircraft and ships to watch shipping lanes,
Reuters reported on Tuesday.
"They have to show force in the region," said Wood. "They have to show our allies that we mean to do what we say, which is to protect the freedom of sea traffic in the region. It's one of the heaviest traffic regions in the world and China wants to dominate it."
Wood said China is definitely the aggressor in this dispute, claiming sovereignty over the remote Spratly Islands despite strong objections from neighbors, including the Philippines and Vietnam.
"There's a lot of disputed territories and just because China dumps a bunch of sand on a reef doesn't mean that all of a sudden they have claim to that region," he said.
Wood said that Defense Secretary Ashton Carter is standing tough on the South China Sea dispute, and that Secretary of State John Kerry at least appears to be, with his recent promise to be more confrontational toward the Chinese.
"We'll see if that actually happens — I don't know if he's going to
bring James Taylor over there or not," Wood quipped.
"I don't think the Chinese are worried about the American reaction right now," said Wood.
"Of course, they're going to be very belligerent about U.S. ships with advanced technology, the Littoral [combat] ships, coming into the South China Sea. They're going to make a squawk about it, but there's really not much they can do unless we start a war."
"The risk," he said, "is that we have some type of accidental confrontation between ships or aircraft in the region."
© 2026 Newsmax. All rights reserved.