"The Obama administration's decision to allow China to take possession of Scarborough from our treaty ally Philippines emboldened China's Communist Party to take control of the entirety of the South China Sea." (Photo by Ted Aljibe/ AFP/Getty Images)On September 16, Chinese and Philippine vessels collided near Scarborough Shoal in the South China Sea. At the same time, two Chinese Coast Guard ships blasted the BRP Datu Gumbay Paing, a Filipino fisheries ship, with water cannons for almost a half hour. The tongue encloses about 85 percent of the South China Sea. At least four Chinese Coast Guardsmen lost their lives in the collision.