China’s Challenge to the Law of the Sea
Chinese leaders' refusal to accept the Permanent Court of Arbitration's rejection of their expansive territorial claims in the South China Sea paves the way to regional instability. If international law has no purchase on China, its simmering tensions with its Asian neighbors – and with the US – are bound to boil over.
BERLIN – China has been trying to bully its way to dominance in Asia for years. And it seems that not even an international tribunal in The Hague is going to stand in its way.