President-elect Donald Trump's pick for top U.S. diplomat comes with Chinese geopolitical entanglements. In his favor is years of dealing with some of the country's biggest oil companies.
As chief executive officer of Exxon Mobil Corp. since 2006, Rex Tillerson has seen his company snared in territorial disputes in the South China Sea. An exploration venture with Vietnam has brought it into the crosshairs of China, one of the countries claiming the disputed waters.
Tensions over energy rights last came to the fore in 2014, when China parked an exploration rig near Vietnam, setting off clashes at sea with its coast guard vessels and fishing boats. The fight for access to fishing grounds, oil and gas in the South China Sea remains one of the biggest potential flashpoints in the western Pacific, amid a broader tussle for influence between rising power China and established power the U.S.