A Dash of News for Today

I am not an expert on the South China Sea territorial disputes, but I feel safe saying this is big:

An international tribunal in The Hague delivered a sweeping rebuke on Tuesday of China’s behavior in the South China Sea, from the construction of artificial islands to interference with fishing, and ruled that its expansive claim to sovereignty over the waters had no legal basis.

The tribunal also said that Beijing had violated international law by “causing severe harm to the coral reef environment” and by failing to prevent Chinese fishermen from harvesting endangered sea turtles and other species “on a substantial scale.”

The website for the Permanent Court of Arbitration is down at the moment. Andrew S. Erikson has helpfully posted links to download the full award and the more compact 11-page press release.

There are now many questions about what happens next. Given some of the rhetoric currently coming out of China, I wonder if I will soon be sharing more experiences like the one four years ago of a Japanese mother living in Shanghai during a time when another territorial dispute stirred up China.

I am going to digest this all more before possibly saying anything further. For now, here are some relevant tweets (possibly not fully viewable in an RSS reader and better to view on the blog) made after the announcement:

A breakdown of how the #SouthChinaSea arbitral Tribunal has ruled. pic.twitter.com/mnZrMG4l7G

— Yanmei Xie (@YanmeiXie) July 12, 2016

Xinhua, tweeting South China Sea News from...Dublin?
Or...the magic of VPNs. pic.twitter.com/XTOLKY9GwQ

— Mike Forsythe 傅才德 (@PekingMike) July 12, 2016

The Chinese are censoring the BBC's coverage on the South China Sea ruling. @BBCWorld just gone to black as we crossed to the Hague.

— Maria Byrne (@byrnebbc) July 12, 2016

#SouthChinaSea arbitration: A #US-led conspiracy behind the farce https://t.co/izjemh5M5t pic.twitter.com/L9MVQQB32r

— People's Daily,China (@PDChina) July 12, 2016

Stung by a ruling against its maritime claims, China's Xinhua blames, who else, Japan, of course. https://t.co/m9oMrdgIwl

— Chuin-Wei Yap (@YapCW) July 12, 2016

Pic online: Hague ruling is "anti-China farce..starring the Philippines..maneuvered by the US and its shill Japan." pic.twitter.com/z5sERrlTvz

— Eunice Yoon (@eyoonCNBC) July 12, 2016

Many videos of military nature just appeared on popular PRC social media portals. Nationalistic comments uncensored. https://t.co/IkMkySgIZt

— C.A. Yeung (@WLYeung) July 12, 2016

The smog in #Beijing lifted completely as #PCA #SouthChinaSea ruling came out. Tempting to run out of the office! pic.twitter.com/hzuwYYnzG0

— Joanna Chiu 趙淇欣 (@joannachiu) July 12, 2016

Note we have turned off pollution so foreign friends in Beijing can run home before “spontaneous protests” begin. Seriously. Start running.

— The Relevant Organs (@relevantorgans) July 12, 2016

China says it won't even read Hague ruling on South China Sea. "We won't accept any of their so-called materials." https://t.co/NNN6xMtmiy

— Mark MacKinnon (@markmackinnon) July 12, 2016

People's Daily weibo weighs in: "Don't accept, don't participate, don't recognize, don't carry out" #SouthChinaSea pic.twitter.com/BjbGUAGlac

— Austin Ramzy (@austinramzy) July 12, 2016

NULL, VOID, NO BINDING FORCE. China neither accepts nor recognizes award of #SouthChinaSea arbitration pic.twitter.com/TF0g4BUHQD

— China Xinhua News (@XHNews) July 12, 2016

Chinese government mood now #CHexit pic.twitter.com/TpLRCKbvvc

— JPE Borja 務實 (@jpeb) July 12, 2016

Just for sh-ts and grins, Nintendo should put a bunch of rare Pokemon on the Diayu/Senkaku Islands & Scarborough Shoal.

— Mike Forsythe 傅才德 (@PekingMike) July 12, 2016