Xi Jinping's bathtub making waves

The International Court of Justice is set to make a landmark ruling on July 12 on the South China Sea. The Hague's final decision is in response to a 2013 case filed by the Philippines contesting China's vast territorial claims on the South China Sea. China has boycotted the hearing saying the UN body does not have jurisdiction over territorial disputes.

Beijing's claim on large parts of the South China Sea is contested by Vietnam, Taiwan, Brunei, Malaysia and Indonesia.

Since 2014, China has reclaimed over 3,000 acres of land in the sea, building islands and airstrips on reefs to bolster its claim on a region through which over $5 trillion worth of maritime trade passes through each year.

Beijing sees this as par for the course. In an oblique reference to a then rising superpower United States turning the Caribbean Sea into its "lake" over a century ago, China's state-owned Xinhua press agency asked the US to desist a similar intervention in the South China Sea.