China Pushes Back After Tillerson Warns on South China Sea

China said it had the right to act in its own territory in the disputed South China Sea, pushing back after President-elect Donald Trump’s nominee for secretary of state said Beijing must be denied access to reclaimed reefs. While China’s foreign ministry issued a relatively measured response to the remarks, the threat from former Exxon Mobil Corp. chief Rex Tillerson raises the prospect of a more antagonistic U.S. approach to Beijing’s military buildup in the area. In recent years China has reclaimed thousands of acres of land and shooed away boats from other claimant states like the Philippines and Vietnam. -- More...