The number of grenades, also known as flash-bangs, symbolized the 80th anniversary of the Republic of Korea Navy, celebrated with a grand fleet review in the southeastern port city. “A naval event of this scale would have been unimaginable 80 years ago,” said Captain Oh Se-sung, a senior public affairs officer of the Republic of Korea Navy headquarters in Busan. In 2018, China installed a steel structure known as Shenlan 1 inside the Provisional Measures Zone (PMZ) of the West Sea. South Korea lodged formal protests, demanding the removal of the structure. China’s maritime provocations in the West Sea echo its aggressive behavior in the South China Sea.