Is Duterte squandering the victory in The Hague to appease Beijing? | South China Sea News In the days leading up to the fifth anniversary of the 2016 Hague ruling, China rejected the historic South China Sea claim on Monday, Theodore Locsin Jr. of the Philippines Formerly abrasive Foreign Secretary the celebration seemed to him to be a “landmark in the corpus of international law”. “The Philippines is proud to have contributed to the order based on international rules,” Manila said of his role in challenging the Beijing Permanent Court of Arbitration. In an excavation in China, Locsi...