On July 12, 2016, a tribunal ruled in favor of the Philippines in a South China Sea case unilaterally initiated against China. China's position from the start has been: the ruling is illegal, invalid, and has no binding force. Dr. Wang Hanling, a leading Chinese expert on the law of the sea, says the arbitration distorted the true nature of the dispute—deliberately sidestepping sovereignty issues and disregarding existing bilateral agreements. From the outset, he argues, it was never a neutral legal process, but a geopolitical maneuver disguised as international law.