An International Tribunal has ruled China does not have any rights to justify it's claims to an important strategic and economic waterway. China has positioned advanced weaponry on man made Islands as garrisons. China has laid claims to a great deal of the South China Sea and has tried to set up exclusion and identification zones.
The ruling was strongly in favor of Philippines claims.
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Some $5 trillion in commerce, roughly one third of global trade, flow through the waters of the South China Sea every year, while its fisheries account for 12 percent of the global catch and significant oil and gas reserves are thought to exist under the sea floor. Yet the waters are some of the most fiercely disputed in the world, with claims to various parts staked by Brunei, China, Malaysia, the Philippines, Vietnam and Taiwan.
The United States has already conducted several “freedom of navigation” exercises in the South China Sea, sending warships within 12 nautical miles of islands, reefs and rocks controlled by China and other claimants. It is also rebuilding military ties with the Philippines. China cites this as evidence that it is President Obama’s actions — not its island-building – that are responsible for militarizing the region.
https://www.washingtonpost.com/world...5b1_story.html