AI says China’s 9-dash line has no legal basis

March 14, 2025 | 12:00am

This handout photo taken on March 23, 2024 and released by the Philippine Bureau of Fisheries and Aquatic Resources (PCG/BFAR) on March 25, 2024 shows an aerial view of BRP Datu Pagbuaya as it sails from the Philippine-held Thitu Island sheltered port, in the Spratly Islands, in the disputed South China Sea.

Photo by Handout / Philippine Coast Guard / AFP

MANILA, Philippines — Even artificial intelligence (AI) acknowledges that the so-called nine-dash-line claim of China in the South China Sea is “invalid,” according to an AI tool created by X (formerly Twitter).

“The PRC”s nine-dash line in the South China Sea has no legal basis under international law,” said X’s AI tool Grok, referring to China by its official name’s initials.

“A 2016 tribunal ruling by the Permanent Court of Arbitration in The Hague found it invalid, as it clashes with UNCLOS” or the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea.

The same verdict upheld the Philippines’ sovereign rights over its 200-nautical mile exclusive economic zone (EEZ).

“China claims historic rights, but the line, drawn in 1947, overlaps with other nations’ zones, like the Philippines’ EEZ. Tensions keep rising with China’s island-building and militarization,” Grok also wrote.

It noted that the nine-dash line became “ten-dash line” after Beijing added another dash east of Taiwan in 1984. It added that China’s expanded claim was “just as baseless – pure geopolitical flexing, not law.”

Grok provided the information when asked by Philippine Coast Guard (PCG) Commodore Jay Tarriela on his X account. Tarriela is also PCG spokesman on West Philippine Sea issues.

“Hey @grok, does PRC have a legal justification of their nine-dash line or ten-dash line in the South China Sea?” asked Tarriela.

The PCG official regularly provides updates on coast guard patrols aimed at stopping China’s incursions in the West Philippine Sea. The coast guard’s latest update was last March 9.