[OPINION] Why China won’t just leave out the Philippines

On July 12, the Philippines will be celebrating the 10th anniversary of the arbitral award issued by an international tribunal facilitated by the Permanent Court of Arbitration (PCA) in The Hague. The arbitral ruling generally favored the position of the Philippines vis-a-vis its claim against China in the West Philippine Sea. Looking back, this stemmed from China’s narrative that it has historical sovereignty and “indisputable” rights over islands and their adjacent waters covered by its “nine-dash-line” territorial and maritime claims — that subjectively appropriated “85% to 90% of the entire South China Sea.” The Philippines offered three arguments: “China’s nine-dash…