China does not have it all its way in the South China Sea

DISPUTES IN THE South China Sea go back decades. They involve Brunei, China, Malaysia, the Philippines, Taiwan and Vietnam, all with contesting claims. But it was only ten years ago that China, which makes outlandish maritime claims for nearly the whole sea, greatly upped the ante. First, it provoked a stand-off that left it in control of an uninhabited atoll, Scarborough Shoal, which under UN maritime law clearly belongs to the Philippines, sitting within that country’s 200-nautical-mile “exclusive economic zone” (EEZ). Then China launched a massive terraforming exercise, turning reefs and rocks into artificial islands hosting airstrips and bases. What, a decade on, has China accomplished, apart from the wilful destruction of unique ecosystems?