American officials are losing patience with China. On May 22nd the vice-president, Joe Biden, was blunt. He warned naval-college graduates of "new fault lines" emerging between the great powers. China, he said, was challenging freedom of navigation in the South China Sea by reclaiming land on disputed reefs on a "massive scale". Two days earlier America had signalled its annoyance by sending a surveillance aircraft close to one of the reefs where China is building an airstrip. Such secretive flights are common, but this one was different. The plane also took a crew from cnn, which broadcast the Chinese navy's testy response through a radio transmission in English: "Leave immediately, in order to avoid misjudgment."
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