An Economist article titled Could Asia really go to war over these? with an arrow pointing to a small rocky island described potential conflicts (in both the East Asia chapter and in the Pacific/Oceans chapter). What is driving the conflict mentioned in this article?

Texas’ gulf coastal plains are the western extension of the coastal plain extending from the atlantic ocean to beyond the rio grande. its characteristic rolling to hilly surface covered with a heavy growth of pine and hardwoods extends into east texas. in the increasingly arid west, however, its forests become secondary in nature, consisting largely of post oaks and, farther west, prairies and brushlands.