South China Sea Court Ruling Leads To China Flexing Its Muscles With More Military Exercises

Now that a court has ruled for the Philippines in the South China Sea dispute, China appears to be throwing a bit of a fit. The communist country was engaging in military exercises before the ruling by the Permanent Court of Arbitration.

Now that the South China Sea ruling has come down, the country is engaging in more exercises. These military maneuvers began on Friday and are said to be continuing all the way through September. These maneuvers aren’t just any military exercises either.

The communist regime has said the moves in the South China Sea are of a large scale. Clearly, the country has decided it wants to show people who attempt to enforce the ruling the strength of its military. The troops participating in the action come from five different theaters of the People’s Liberation Army (PLA).

The massive collection of troops in the South China Sea for what is expected to be such a long period of time is likely going to make things uncomfortable for the Philippines. The PLA massing in the area is likely going to make the United States uneasy as well. It’s likely this uneasiness is exactly what China is looking for by starting these maneuvers.

At the heart of the South China Sea issue is the demarcation of what China refers to as its nine-dash line. This line is a way for China to show off where it believes its borders in the sea end. The Philipines had long claimed the “nine-dash line” was drawn in a way that was contrary to an earlier agreement.

When the dispute was taken to the international court, that court agreed the border violates that the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea. Both countries arguing over the nine-dash line signed that charter. Now that the ruling over the dispute has come down, the Indian Express reports China has no intent of honoring the ruling and is instead acting as though it never came down.

The communist regime has also been quite annoyed by what it’s seen as some crowing from people who were actively rooting against it in the South China Sea ruling. Australia’s foreign minister, Julie Bishop, is one person that has come under fire from China after her comments on the issue. Those comments seemed somewhat benign, as they just discussed the increasingly poor relations China would have with the rest of the world if it kept ignoring the ruling.

In response, China has said it hopes Australia thought about its “wrong comments” and decided to backtrack on what it said. The Guardian reports Chinese foreign ministry spokesman Lu Kang had other harsh words for Bishop in response. “We hope that Australia can set more store by international law, and not treat it as a game,” Lu said while also repeating the issue in the South China Sea had not been resolved.

‘@UN Court Reaffirms Unrelated to #SouthChinaSea Arbitral Tribunalhttps://t.co/hTTO8SStEs pic.twitter.com/CEcAVAWqry

— People's Daily, China (@PDChina) July 16, 2016

This, of course, has been the problem in dealing with the communist country over the years for many in the International community. When the country believes it has made a lawful stake on expanding its borders, it tends not to back down when questioned. This is especially true when dealing with regions it feels like it is obviously the strongest actors.

While China has talked big about how little they want to hear from countries like Australia, it’s pretty obvious those other countries are feeling a bit empowered by the ruling on the issue. What we do know is it doesn’t appear the problem has been resolved, despite what the court has said. The South China Sea is still very much in dispute.

[Photo by Dondi Tawatao/Getty Images]