Look at Taiwan. China has been fire breathing with similar rhetoric about invading Taiwan since 1949. The only thing they managed to do was kick Taiwan out of the UN in 1971. The US has been supplying military equipment to Taiwan for the longest time. The Taiwan Relations Act of 1978 passed by Congress provides for US military intervention if Taiwan is attacked and it is couched in indirect terms. Now you see Taiwanese running massive factories in Mainland China using cheap labor.
Asean, the Philippines and the rest of the World know this. The only fear is China uses money to bribe the vulnerable nations and therefore break regional solidarity. The Philippines already said that it will not celebrate the ruling as a victory and will engage China. Give them 3 years and the Chinese will fun oil exploration as a joint venture with the Philippines in Scarborough Shoal.
In essence if they can't even invade Taiwan, a small Island which is only 180km away from their coastline (similar distance between Muar and Singapore), they certainly not going anywhere near Philippines.
Asean, the Philippines and the rest of the World know this. The only fear is China uses money to bribe the vulnerable nations and therefore break regional solidarity. The Philippines already said that it will not celebrate the ruling as a victory and will engage China. Give them 3 years and the Chinese will fun oil exploration as a joint venture with the Philippines in Scarborough Shoal.
In essence if they can't even invade Taiwan, a small Island which is only 180km away from their coastline (similar distance between Muar and Singapore), they certainly not going anywhere near Philippines.
Given chinkland's track record of losing wars against its neighbours (Japan, burma, vietnam, mongolia, russia, korea), chinkland would do very well not to stir up any shit. The chinks may even lose to the Pinoys despite their overwhelming advantage in numbers and weaponry.