One windfall from last week’s landmark ruling that struck down Beijing’s claims to nearly all of the South China Sea is that it provides a helpful template for resolving disputes among South-east Asia’s own littoral states, analysts said.

They said that the ruling by a five-man arbitral tribunal in The Hague, while mainly involving disputes between the Philippines and China, narrows the scope of disputes involving maritime overlaps among the 10 Asean member states.

“The tribunal ruling is not just about the Philippines and China,” said Mr David Han, research analyst at the S. Rajaratnam School of International Studies (RSIS), but “has legal and political implications” beyond the South China Sea.