Xi be Ping Ponged

Beijing has been ratcheting up its rhetoric over Taiwan all year, ever since President Xi kicked off 2019 with a speech calling for the "reunification" of Taiwan with the mainland, which provoked a fiery response from Taiwanese President Tsai Ing-wen. So when the US approved the sale of 70 new F-16s to Taiwan, crossing one of Beijing's "red lines", and further straining Washington's relationship with Beijing at a very delicate time, when there's a lot on the line for the global economy and markets.

Then, top add insult to injury, the US and Phillippines teamed up to turn  South China Sea island into a practice base. And all Xi has to sow are some piles of mud.

Somewhere just west of Phillippines the US Marines are hanging out. They have a whole island with a nice air strip, a few hundred miles from Xi and the Mud Piles.