The admiral . . . may stay in the bay and keep approaches to the city of Manila tightly closed for a long time to come, until perhaps some demand from the governments of Europe that the United States fish or cut bait comes in such shape that it must be heeded.

He grinned wrily. “I guess she keeps me on my toes.

It was not until early-March that China announced its new round of surface-to-surface missile tests near the Taiwanese ports of Keelung and Kaohsiung, to be held from 8 to 15 March, partly coinciding with a new round of air-sea live-ammunition exercises, to be held from 12 to 20 March.

But the continuity of this identity exists in, and only in, its perpetual salvagings and reconstructions in the face of repeated disruptions and discontinuities.