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Philippines marks 10 years since Hague South China Sea ruling
Officials and analysts say Manila is using its 2016 tribunal win to raise the cost of Beijing’s actions in waters the Philippines considers its own, despite a persistent naval gap.
A decade after a UN-backed tribunal in The Hague ruled on July 12, 2016 that Beijing’s sweeping South China Sea claims had no legal basis, Philippine officials and analysts say Manila has shifted from a landmark legal victory to a more credible deterrence approach. The Philippines brought the case in 2013 under the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea, challenging Beijing’s nine dash line and related claims. The tribunal said the nine dash line had no legal basis and that China violated Manila’s sovereign rights in the Philippines exclusive economic zone, while it did not determine sovereignty over the disputed reefs and features.
China rejected the proceedings and the ruling, arguing the tribunal had no jurisdiction and insisting it held sovereignty over the contested features. Since then, China has built and militarized artificial islands on reefs also claimed by the Philippines, a move critics say limited the award’s practical restraint.
Speakers at a forum on Friday said the past 10 years have included efforts by Manila to strengthen its ability to raise the cost of what they described as Beijing’s creeping invasion into waters the Philippines considers its territory, even as the country remains heavily outmatched at sea. According to SCMP Economy, this cost-raising strategy is now central to how Manila leverages the ruling.