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The Philippines and 14 nations celebrate the 10th anniversary of the landmark South China Sea arbitral ruling against China.

The Philippines and a coalition of 14 nations, including the United States, Australia, Canada, Germany, Japan, and the United Kingdom, celebrated the 10th anniversary of the 2016 South China Sea arbitral ruling. The decision, which invalidated China's nine-dash line and artificial island-building campaign, transformed China's maritime claims from contested to unlawful in the global perception. While China continues to aggressively militarize the region and has dismissed the overall ruling as "waste paper," the Philippines has utilized a strategic "lawfare" approach to expose China's violations. Despite the legal victory, China maintains control over key features like Scarborough Shoal. Vietnam remains a notable public absence from the international chorus of supporters, opting for a "bamboo diplomacy" of private support. However, the Vietnamese people, as evidenced by historical protests and the diaspora, show strong public solidarity with the ruling. The decision now serves as the shared legal vocabulary for regional diplomacy, setting the terms for future negotiations and potential conflict in the Pacific.

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