Reacting to US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo's announcement on July 13 of the US' formal rejection of China's claims in the South China Sea, an article in the the CCP-owned Global Times (July 14) said "The US now stands on the opposite side of China and is aiming to turn the waters into a hot spot again". The article, which included inputs from Xin Qiang, Deputy Director of the Center for American Studies at Fudan University in Shanghai, said  "the US may also incite claimant countries to file lawsuits against China - just like how the Philippines raised the South China Sea arbitration matter. It is even possible for Washington to sell more advanced patrol vessels, fighter jets and naval surveillance equipment to boost the countries' strength, and encourage them to besiege China in multilateral occasions, such as ASEAN summits and the East Asia Summit". It asserted that US actions have, however, "hardly changed anything in respect of China's relevant development. Infrastructure construction work in the South China Sea islands has been going on. New airports have been built and tested. China's actions to safeguard its sovereign and territorial integrity there have never stopped and can even be argued to be of success". Pointing out that despite its military advantages "China has refrained itself from using force to take back any islands occupied by peripheral states", it warned that if the US takes proactive measures, "China will display its "reciprocal" strategy to safeguard its sovereignty. If the US launches military exercises in the waters, be it without arms or live-fire drills, it can expect the very same scale in return. The similar type of military exercises can be carried out by China to match it. If the US warships come within 12 nautical miles of Chinese soil in the name of freedom of navigation, China will not only issue warnings and send the Chinese navy to intercept them, but can also consider deploying more anti-ship weapons. If US fighter jets keep buzzing over the region, more air-defense missiles could be deployed. If the US carries out joint maritime drills with regional countries, so will China. China has numerous cards to play. The only matter is whether or not Beijing wants to play them as it never wishes to see tensions running high in the region or deteriorating ties with its neighbouring countries.