It has been five years since the Permanent Court of Arbitration, in a legally binding decision known as the South China Sea Arbitration Case, ruled against Communist China’s claims to sovereignty over most of the South China Sea.
The Philippine government filed the case against China in 2013 after China seized a reef over which both countries claim sovereignty. In addition to ruling against China’s claim of historic rights to the South China Sea, the court found that China had violated the Philippines’ sovereign rights in its exclusive economic zone by interfering with its fishing and petroleum exploration, as well as by constructing artificial islands in the Spratly Islands archipelago, which had caused “severe harm to the coral reef environment”.
