How Beijing’s islands of control are reshaping the South China Sea

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Over the past decade, Beijing's construction and control of islands in the South China Sea have significantly reshaped the geopolitical landscape, despite international legal rulings against its claims. Rival nations continue strategic maneuvers in this contested maritime region.

A decade after Beijing rejected the ruling by The Hague’s Permanent Court of Arbitration on its South China Sea claims, rival nations continue to manoeuvre for control. In the third of our series on the anniversary, Laura Zhou looks at why the gap between international law and geopolitical reality on the water has never been wider. On a scorching morning this summer, more than a hundred Chinese tourists stepped ashore on Tree Island in the hotly contested Paracels. They were greeted not only by...