14 Nations Say Sea Ruling Stands. Beijing Calls It 'Waste Paper.'

Fourteen countries, led by the Philippines and the United States, issued a joint statement Sunday marking a decade since an international tribunal ruled that China's sweeping maritime claims in the South China Sea carry no legal standing — triggering a sharp diplomatic backlash from Beijing that included the summoning of a senior Japanese diplomat.

Released on July 12, the 10th anniversary of the Permanent Court of Arbitration's landmark decision, the statement was co-signed by Australia, Canada, Estonia, Germany, Italy, Japan, Latvia, Lithuania, New Zealand, Romania, Slovenia, the United Kingdom, and the United States. It declared the 2016 award "final, legally binding, and definitive" in the territorial dispute between Manila and Beijing, and reaffirmed that China's claims — including those grounded in so-called "historic rights" — have no basis under the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS).

The 14 nations also condemned the deployment of coast guard, military, and maritime militia forces to "harass, obstruct, or intimidate" lawful operations by other states at sea.

Beijing Calls The Award 'Waste Paper,' Summons Japan's Envoy

China's foreign ministry rejected the ruling in unambiguous terms, calling it "illegal, null and void, and has no binding force." It announced it had summoned the chief minister of Japan's embassy in Beijing to protest Japan's foreign minister for marking the anniversary and co-signing the statement. Beijing warned it would respond to what it characterized as Japanese provocations "firmly and forcefully," folding objections over Taiwan into the same diplomatic exchange.

China has never accepted the 2016 ruling, maintaining that it "does not accept any means of third party dispute settlement or any solution imposed on China." Beijing also accused Manila of breaching its commitments under the 2002 Declaration on the Conduct of Parties in the South China Sea by failing to resolve the dispute through direct bilateral negotiations.

Conspicuously absent from Sunday's statement were the nine other members of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) — the regional bloc that the Philippines currently chairs. Vietnam, Malaysia, and Brunei, all of which have overlapping territorial disputes with China in the South China Sea, did not co-sign the declaration.

The omission underscores the political sensitivity surrounding China's influence within ASEAN. Philippine President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. has been pushing for ASEAN and China to finalize a legally binding Code of Conduct for the South China Sea at the upcoming ASEAN Summit in Manila this November — a process that has been under negotiation since 1992.

The anniversary prompted more than symbolic declarations. At a high-level forum in Manila titled "A Decade of the Arbitral Award: Credible Deterrence in Defense of the West Philippine Sea," envoys from more than a dozen countries — including Australia, Canada, France, Germany, India, Japan, and the United Kingdom — announced plans to expand defense and technical cooperation with the Philippines.

Australian Ambassador Marc Innes-Brown said Canberra was on track to sign a new defense cooperation arrangement with Manila in 2026. UK Ambassador Sara Hulton confirmed that London is in formal negotiations with the Philippines on a Status of Visiting Forces Agreement (VFA), while Canadian Ambassador David Hartman cited Ottawa's recently signed VFA as a model for closer ties.

France's Ambassador Marie Fontanel put it plainly: "Legal principles alone are not enough. Defending international law requires power … power requires ships, aircraft, joint drills, agreements."

Germany's Ambassador Dr. Andreas Michael Pfaffernoschke framed the broader stakes in stark terms, calling stability in the West Philippine Sea a "litmus test for the global rule of law." He declared: "We are convinced that the strength of the law must always prevail over the law of the strong. Right makes might, not might makes right. The 2016 Arbitral Award is final, and it is legally binding on all parties to the dispute."

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Filipinos March In Manila To Assert Sovereign Sea Rights

Inside the Philippines, the anniversary became a public moment of national affirmation. Defense Secretary Gilberto Teodoro Jr., Armed Forces Chief of Staff Gen. Romeo Brawner Jr., and Philippine Coast Guard spokesperson Rear Adm. Jay Tarriela led a National Peace Walk at Quirino Grandstand in Manila, calling it a "whole-of-government approach" to asserting the country's maritime rights.

"This walk serves as our action to call for freedom of navigation," Teodoro said. "We need to strengthen our knowledge and capability to wisely use the sea which God gave us."

The National Maritime Council — an interagency body established by President Marcos in March 2024 to strengthen the country's maritime security — emphasized that the 2016 ruling is a national asset, not a political one. "It does not belong to any administration, institution, or political party. It belongs to us all," the council said in a statement, calling on future generations of Filipinos to inherit both the responsibilities and the benefits of citizenship in a great maritime nation.

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