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Revisiting a strategy used in World War Two, the US Marines have been deployed in order to practise their tactic of taking small islands in the region. Deployed on the Japanese island of

Iejima, the Marines captured an airfield as they practised their tactic of “securing advanced footholds”. Although the exercise was not an outward show of aggression towards Beijing, US

Marine Corps General, Joseph Dunford admitted that it was essential that the US shows its dominance against Asian power. General Dunford said: “It is critical for us to be able to project

power in the context of China. “If you look at the island chains and so forth in the Pacific as platforms from which we can project power, that would be a historical mission for the Marine

Corps and one that is very relevant in a China scenario.” China has tried to increase its dominance in the region by claiming multiple islands within the country’s nine-dotted line strategy.

Due to that strategy, China has claimed multiple islands which have led to disputes with neighbouring countries. READ MORE: US VOWS TO DEFEND PHILIPPINES AGAINST 'ARMED ATTACK' IN

WARNING TO ... Most notably, Beijing fell into disputes with the Philippines and Vietnam over its respective claims to the Spratly and Parcel islands. Last year Marine Lieutenant General

Kenneth McKenzie issued a veiled warning to Beijing as he confirmed America’s military strength in the region. He said: “I would just say that the United States military's had a lot of

experience in the Western Pacific taking down small islands.” Recently, Secretary of State, Mike Pompeo hit out China’s “illegal island-building in international waterways” following the

development at Woody, Tree and Drummond islands. READ MORE: WORLD WAR 3: SAFEST COUNTRIES IN THE WORLD TO ESCAPE TO  Jeffrey Engstrom, a senior policy analyst told Newsweek: “ If built,

additional basing infrastructure and logistics nodes allow China’s People's Liberation Army (PLA) Navy, coast guard and the maritime militia to further expand presence and operational

tempo in the South China Sea (SCS). “This has the ability to raise tensions by placing even more pressure than we have witnessed so far on the other SCS claimants and routine US military

activity in the region.” Both Chinese and US ships have strayed into disputed territorial zones the two powers tussle for dominance. Moreover, last November, Vice President Mike Pence said:

“The South China Sea doesn’t belong to any one nation.”