This is what the next flash point in the South China Sea looks like
AMTI/CSIS
According to the ruling, the reef and everything on it legally belongs to the Philippines. This is in spite of China's reclamation of approximately 5,580,000 square meters of land, and the construction of a 9,800-foot runway, radar nests, and what some experts have speculated is a soon-to-be naval base.
AMTI/CSIS/Amanda Macias/Business Insider
However, within a day of the PCA's decision, China landed a civilian aircraft on the disputed reef for the first time. Chinese state-run media published photos of the flight crew posing in front of the plane at the newly constructed airport.
"That timing was clearly a signal of discontent of the ruling," Gregory Poling, director of Asia Maritime Transparency Initiative at the Center for Strategic and International Studies, told Business Insider.
"The court ruled China's initial occupation of Mischief Reef and its construction of facilities there illegal, so every day that China continues to make use of those facilities it is violating international law."
AMTI/CSIS
"As I've said before, it [ruling] won't have any effect," Chinese foreign ministry spokesman Lu Kang said, when asked if China would seek to bolster its sovereignty over the disputed reef.
Earlier this month, US Secretary of State John Kerry said it was "impossible" for the ruling to become irrelevant since it is legally binding.
AMTI/CSIS
The US has also agreed to warn China to cease further development of islands within the Philippines' EEZ.
Reuters contributed to this report.
Head over to Asia Maritime Transparency Initiative to view more satellite imagery »
Click here to read more about the South China Sea »
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