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Mischief Reef is well within the Philippine-claimed 200-nautical-mile EEZ and sits on the Philippine-claimed legal continental shelf. But China sees the feature as part of its claim to the entire Spratly area based on discovery and usage. Although a few rocks may be exposed at low tide, the reef is covered at high tide and is thus not an "island" under Article 121 of the Law of the Sea Convention. But the construction of facilities and its occupation by China catapulted this obscure feature into the international limelight. The 1995 dispute over the reef cooled when, in the face of a stinging international outcry and ASEAN solidarity, China backed off. It offered bilateral use and development of the reef area and agreed with the Philippines on a "code of conduct" that rejected the use of force to settle disputes. At...