While the Korean peace talks continue to make headlines this morning, a threat largely dismissed by the mainstream media grows ever more dangerous 1,600 miles south of Seoul.
Specifically, in the disputed waters of the South China Sea.
A Chinese blockade of the South China Sea would send oil prices $20 higher, make the current tariffs between the United States and China look like child's play, and of course, force the United States to take military action against the Red Dragon.
And recent developments in the region have shifted the atmosphere from tense to downright explosive. Indeed, at any moment, one small spark could ignite a war in the contested waters.
Have a look at what's been going on...
The U.S. military continues to ramp up military pressure in the South China Sea in an effort to force China to keep the region open for the $3.4 trillion in trade that passes through it every year.
U.S. Air Force B-52 bombers carried out training this week in the "vicinity" of the South China Sea and the southern Japanese island of Okinawa, the Air Force reported today, according to The South China Morning Post.
Taiwanese media in particular speculated this week that the drills might have been intended as warnings from the United States to China following Beijing's stepped-up military presence around Taiwan - a renegade province that the Red Dragon wants reincorporated back into its mainland.
For its part, China's military conducted live fire drills and fighter plane taunts of its own this week.
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In regards to the ongoing warmonger games around Taipei over the past seven days, Beijing's Defense Ministry Spokesperson Wu Qian warned yesterday that China would not shy away from unifying the mainland and the island of Taiwan "through force," if need be, SCMP added this morning.
China has been busy threatening other countries in the South China Sea this week, as well...
Over the past five days, Beijing's navy coopted a reef belonging to the Philippines and has used it to land military planes. To add insult to injury, China also erected a monument there.
This island, known specifically as Mischief Reef, was deemed officially part of the Philippines' Eastern Economic Zone and part of its continental shelf by the UN-backed Permanent Court of Arbitration in The Hague in July 2016.
China has consistently ignored that ruling.
Lawmakers and legal experts in Manila have been pressing Filipino President Rodrigo Duterte to protest Beijing's annexation of Mischief Reef this week. But so far, Duterte has remained mum.
However, he may be saving his public dissent for this weekend, when tensions in the South China Sea could flare to new heights...
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The annual summit of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) goes down this weekend (April 28 and 29). The global press expects leaders there to officially voice their concerns about China's large-scale reclamation efforts in the disputed maritime region.
Last year, ASEAN's "China problem" went wholly unmentioned at the annual meeting.
But Beijing's slow takeover throughout the past 12 months can no longer go ignored and unaddressed.
In fact, an initial draft of the summit's agenda, released yesterday, states at the very top that China's military efforts in the South China Sea "have eroded trust and confidence, increased tensions and may undermine peace, security and stability in the region."
Indeed, in the past year alone, China has created seven artificial islands to bolster its claims of nearly the entire area. It equipped the archipelago with runways, radar and communication facilities, and other military outposts.
There's good reason to expect the group-voiced concerns expressed by ASEAN's leaders this weekend will upset the Red Dragon, which doesn't take kindly to international challenges. At the very least, we predict there will be more threats lobbed at the United States and ASEAN countries from China's mouthpiece media and top diplomats in the immediate days ahead.
And at worst, we could be on the verge of all-out war. While not a single missile that's been fired has hit an opposing party in the ongoing South China Sea dispute yet, it could happen anytime - especially with the uptick in all-around war game activity.
And should a United States-China-ASEAN-nation war erupt, investors will want to have their financial futures already on stable footing.
One way to ensure your future fiscal security is by investing now in companies that will carry the U.S. markets when the world drops its cell phones in order to take up arms.
This is why Money Morning Executive Editor Bill Patalon likes The Boeing Co. (NYSE: BA).
Boeing is a major contributor to U.S. war efforts in times of conflict and of peace.
Earlier this week, BA released first-quarter results that blew away expectations. More importantly, it boosted "forward guidance" for cash flow (CF) and profits, as the jetliner and defense heavyweight climbs toward another record year.
Bill says Boeing is just getting started.
Investors who heeded Bill's initial BA recommendation way back in September 2011 shelled out just $61.92 a share for their piece of the aerospace mega-company.
Today, BA's share price rings in at $339.99.
That's a whopping 449% profit increase, not including its healthy 2% dividend. That's nearly four times the Dow's returns in the same time frame.
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