When President Joe Biden steps down in January, he’ll hand his successor a world far more dangerous than the one he inherited four years ago. Under his watch, the U.S. returned Afghanistan to the barbarous Taliban and watched wars break out in Europe and the Middle East. But when all is said and done, history may judge Biden most harshly for his failure to hold Beijing to account for its aggression in the South China Sea. If not reversed, this appeasement could invite a war even more horrific than the ones currently underway.
Last month, the Philippines—an ally with whom America has a defense treaty and security commitment—was forced to withdraw a coast guard vessel it had anchored at Sabina Shoal, an atoll well within its exclusive economic zone that China claims as its own. Beijing besieged the shoal to block Manila from resupplying the ship it had placed there to…
