Via – The Washington Free Beacon

ESPN on Wednesday evening showed a graphic recognizing China’s erroneous claim to own the South China Sea, despite the Permanent Court of Arbitration ruling against that claim in 2016.

While transitioning to a segment about the Los Angeles Lakers basketball team arriving in Shanghai for their Thursday game, ESPN showed a graphic of China with the so-called Nine-Dash Line. The dashed lines encircle the South China Sea, marking the large area of it the PRC claims to control.

China has repeatedly claimed it owns 90 percent of the South China Sea under a so-called Nine-Dash Line. but the Permanent Court of Arbitration, an international court located in the Hague, Netherlands, ruled in 2016 that China’s claim was illegal. The court said there was no evidence or historical context that showed China having exclusive control over the South China Sea or its resources.

“The Tribunal concluded that there was no legal basis for China to claim historic rights to resources within the sea areas falling within the ‘nine-dash line,'” the court said.

However, China has rejected this ruling.

Earlier this summer, China conducted a series of missile tests in the South China Sea in an attempt to send a message to the United States, according to Adm. Philip Davidson, commander of the Indo-Pacific Command.

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