Due to China's ongoing push for lebensraum. Maybe not this year or this decade, but... inevitable.
I have ranked the Spratleys as the area most likely to cause serious global conflict for over 5 years now and I expect this to remain the case until it kicks off. This will never be resolved by diplomacy due to China's size relative to others.
As the largest creditor to the US, I am sure the USA wont mind China declaring war as it can not only abrogate it's debt to china, but it can also ramp up it's inflation (currency depreciation) via a new class of bond issuance: 'war bonds'. And if the war can be ended without the USA being overrun it will be able to claim compensation afterward.
Looking at it from the perspective of the leaders of the countries with large populations: So what if a billion people are killed?.
We humans are all easily replaceable with a baby bonus initiative and hence very expendable. Especially if you consider the level of education given in the schools. They are pretty much only churning out cannon fodder and iPhone/Macdonald's consumers these days.
