The Philippines commemorated on Friday the anniversary of a 2016 arbitration ruling, which invalidated China’s expansive claims in the disputed South China Sea and which Washington and other allies have used as a rallying call against Beijing’s growing assertiveness.
China refused to join the arbitration initiated by the Philippines in 2013, and rejected as a sham the July 12, 2016 ruling by a tribunal established under the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea.
