Last week, China's coast guard mounted what the Philippines called an "unusual" show of force at Second Thomas Shoal, a hotly disputed submerged reef in the Spratly Islands where Manila maintains a small outpost in the form of the rusting warship BRP Sierra Madre, grounded there in 1999 to anchor its territorial claim.

President Donald Trump and South Korean President Lee Jae Myung had a friendly interaction before the cameras at the White House that was far different than Trump’s warnings against the new leader ear