The Arbitration That Shook the South China Sea: A Decade Later, Implications Endure The South China Sea dispute has been a contentious issue in regional politics for decades.
Multiple claimants vie for control over resources and territory, but one event stands out as a turning point: the 2016 arbitration ruling that went against China's claims to the region.
For context, the Philippines filed a case under the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS), which led to an arbitration tribunal finding that several features in the South China Sea were not islands but low tide elevations or rocks.