How Philippines is reshaping South China Sea defence, 10 years after Hague ruling

A decade after a 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 remains heavily outmatched at sea but has begun turning its landmark legal victory into a more credible form of deterrence.

The Philippines brought the case in 2013 under the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (Unclos), challenging Beijing’s nine-dash line and other claims.

The tribunal ruled that China’s nine-dash line had no legal basis and that it had violated Manila’s sovereign rights in its exclusive economic zone, though it did not decide which country owned the disputed reefs and features.

China rejected the proceedings and the ruling, saying the tribunal had no jurisdiction and insisting it had sovereignty over the disputed features. It has since built and militarised artificial islands on reefs also claimed by the Philippines, a development critics cite as proof that the award did little to restrain Beijing.

Speakers at a forum on Friday said the past decade had seen Manila strengthen its ability to raise the cost of what they described as Beijing’s “creeping invasion” into waters the Philippines considers its territory.