Court Rules Chinese Claims In South China Sea Without Merit

The Permanent Court of Arbitration in The Hague issued an important ruling that Chinese claims to sovereignty over areas of the South China Sea are without merit. China has spent the last few years essentially building islands with two landing strips in the Spratly Islands as well as flexing its naval might in various regions the South China Sea. China’s claims over that area include some vital fishing grounds and, more importantly, substantial reserves of oil and natural gas. The ruling specifically stated that China had encroached on the Philippines fishing rights and violated the Philippine’s sovereignty by exploring for oil and gas in Philippine waters.

China apparently made a tactical error in boycotting the tribunal which handed the Chinese a devastating legal defeat. In addition to the Philippines, Vietnam and Japan also welcomed the ruling while Taiwan, which has also made similar claims for other islands in the South China Sea, objected.  This ruling will only raise tensions in the area and, since the Court has no power to enforce its ruling, it is quite possible that China’s overwhelming military presence may make the ruling moot. This specific scenario is what essentially drove the most recent election in Japan, where Prime Minister Shinzo Abe won a landslide victory that will not only allow him to continue to revive the economy but, more importantly, possibly rewrite the Japanese constitution to allow Japan to rebuild its military power. That change is driven by North Korea’s rogue actions but even more so by the increasing naval power of the Chinese.

The South China Sea has long been seen as the next arena of superpower military skirmishes. This ruling and the reactions it has provoked signal just the beginning of the battle over this important area.