It claims land that it has no right to claim, it claims the land of other states when the states have legal rights to that land, and it destroys the natural ecosystem by building islands on reefs. The United States “outlined its policy in the South China Sea – respect for freedom of navigation, peaceful resolution of disputes, freedom of trade, negotiation of a code of conduct for dispute resolution, and the idea that water claims could only be based on legitimate land claims” (Bader, 2014). If the United States cannot guarantee freedom of navigation and freedom of commerce, militarization of the South China Sea threatens $5.3 trillion annually in international trade passing through the legally international waters of the South China Sea (Glaser, 2015). Half of the world's oil supply also passes through the South China Sea (Lo, 2015). Free trade on all seas has been made possible by globally accepted international law that protects freedom of navigation. With this law potentially disrupted by China, trade and the global economy would be at their worst..