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Ten years ago, on July 12, 2016, the Arbitral Tribunal in the South China Sea arbitration rendered its award, dictating that China has no legal basis to claim historic rights to resources in the South China Sea outside of its regular territorial areas recognized under the UN Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS). Ten years later, 14 nations, including the US, the UK, and the Philippines, put out a statement, claiming the decision to be "final, legally binding and definitive."

It looks like a bunch of righteous countries, showing that they are still paying attention to this issue a decade later, and tending to the interests of the international community, right? Not so when you consider that what they are purportedly supporting had been wrong and manufactured for political purposes.

The UN Convention on the Law of the Sea, first of all, doesn't regulate matters related to territorial sovereignty over maritime features and maritime delimitation – which are at the core of the South China Sea dispute. Territorial issues are beyond the scope of UNCLOS. And maritime delimitation was explicitly excluded by the Chinese government through a declaration in 2006 under Article 298 of UNCLOS – similar declarations of exclusion were made by four members of the UN Security Council, with the US being the only outlier who hasn't signed onto UNCLOS from the very beginning.

China's sovereignty over the Nanhai Zhudao, and the relevant rights and interests in the South China Sea, dates back thousands of years. Documents from the Qin Dynasty (221 – 207 B.C.) wrote about its people's sailing and fishing activities in the region. During the Han Dynasty, envoys were sent there. And since the founding of the People's Republic of China, a series of legal documents, such as the 1958 Declaration of the government of the People's Republic of China on China's Territorial Sea, the 1992 Law of the People's Republic of China on the Territorial Sea and the Contiguous Zone and the 1998 Law of the People's Republic of China on the Exclusive Economic Zone and the Continental Shelf, have furthered reaffirmed China's territorial sovereignty and maritime rights in the South China Sea.

To this date, China is the first to have continuously, peacefully and effectively exercised sovereignty and jurisdiction over Nanhai Zhudao and relevant waters. That hollow "award," a piece of document that paints China as the aggressor and raider, has no legal and historical basis to rest upon.

What it does do is open a gateway for some of the Western countries and those who want to weaponize the region to suppress China. It gives them an excuse to create diplomatic and political pressure in the international community, turning the Philippines into their pawns and putting themselves on the moral high ground. By trying to make China look like the aggressor, they would think that it could stall or stop China's development.

That's not working. China and ASEAN nations are working towards finalizing the South China Sea Code of Conduct by the year's end. This agreement, more than two decades in the making, would become an important pillar of peace and stability for the region. As former Indonesian Foreign Minister Marty Natalegawa said, "It's not a document that's trying to solve the disputes, but it's a document to say this is how we should behave, so there is no misinterpretation, miscalculation, misperception."

The differences between China and ASEAN countries can only be resolved by themselves. Foreign power and interference would only sow chaos and conflict. Ten years ago, the "award" was a bad and sinister plot that did nothing positive for the region. Ten years onward, countries are still trying to play that card. It can't be allowed for yet another ten years.

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