Excerpt from ‘A Red Line in the Sand’ on the challenges posed by China in the South China Sea and elsewhere David Andelman Fiery Cross Reef in the South China Sea. (Asia Maritime Transparency Institute via David Andelman) Excerpt from “A Red Line in the Sand: Diplomacy, Strategy, and the History of Wars That Might Still Happen,” David A. Andelman’s new book on the challenge of red lines around the world. For years, the US Navy has been examining potential responses to any such challenges posed by China that reverberate especially around the red lines it has drawn in the South China Sea. At the Office of Net Assessment (the Pentagon’s internal think tank), the Center for Strategic and Budgetary Assessments, and the US Naval War College in Newport, Rhode Island, and its China Maritime Studies Institute, the Navy has been examining just how to deal resolutely with these Chinese red lines that are all contrary to established international law. Many of the potential responses take into account new and ever more advanced weaponry, with increasing reliability and lethality, that is being fielded by the Chinese military.