Is it not odd, then, that the two people posting here that actually live near the South China Sea are the ones who seem least fearful?

No... it is rather like this: (I quote)

(You) is an ideologue with a specific ideological agenda, and I wouldn't base an opinion on anything (you) writes or publishes. I know (you) refers to a (supposed local knowledge), but we all know those (experiences) can be cherrypicked to "support" any number of agendas. A whole lot of looking into the other side of the picture would be called for.

I think I'm bang on here.
And the other one is, well...you know...a Chinese. Draw your own conclusions.