Can the Chinese Naval build up in the South China Sea a result of the current lack of leadership in the White House?

YES, as are the other critical problems in the world; which is going to HELL in a cheap hand-basket because of the weak buffoon who is illegally occupying the White House. Obama is the worst president in the history of the US; he is the greatest enemy of the US and China, Russia, and Iran know he is weak, stupid, and grossly incompetent. He is a weak little boy trying to do a man s job. May God save us from the idiots who elected this ***.

that seems to be true everywhere in the world not just in the South China Sea.

You mean lack of mindless hawkish war mongering in the White House at the behest of the arms industry?
We are lucky to at last have a grown up in the White House. China is just flexing its muscles as a world power, it doesn't mean anything.

Asking this question is like asking "can the american government occupation of lands far off its own continent, e.g. Alaska, Hawaii, Guam, Virgin Island, Guantanamo Bay, a result of the long lack of leadership in countries of North America and Asia, etc? " China is doing exactly what the US has been doing since WWII.

The pivot to Asia strategy, of course, has been too late, short of funding and resources, and has been in slow motion. This is while PRC China has been doing everything it could at East China Sea, Diaoyu island, and S. China Sea.