TO no one's surprise, the Permanent Court of Arbitration in The Hague has put paid to any assertion that Beijing's claims in the South China Sea had a legal, or for that matter historical, basis. The tribunal has accepted 14 of the 15 claims put forward by the Philippines in a unanimous award.

Most importantly, on Beijing's infamous nine-dash line on its maps, the coordinates of which China has never revealed, the tribunal has ruled that it has no validity whatsoever under the 1982 United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea . The Hague tribunal has found that China never had exclusive use of the disputed region. This is a hugely important ruling to every trading nation; the seas and oceans are a global commons and available for everyone's use. Hopefully, it will be the last time any nation tries to lay claim to any patch of the sea far from its shores as its sovereign territory.

As well, the tribunal has ruled that none of the maritime features in the Spratly Islands claimed by Beijing could be considered islands in their natural state for the purposes of the law of the sea. Consequently, these outcrops do not generate entitlements to that all-important 200-nautical mile exclusive economic zone. China is a signatory to the convention as is the Philippines. So are Malaysia and Vietnam, the other claimants to the disputed shoals.