Start playing ball regarding the South China Sea or face consequences — that was the warning handed to China by the United States and European Union on Thursday.

The Permanent Court of Arbitration in the Hague is due to make a decision later this year on China’s dispute with the Philippines over the territory — but Beijing rejects its authority, even though it has ratified the UN Convention on the Law of the Sea on which the case is based.

Amy Searight, US deputy assistant secretary of defense for South and Southeast Asia, said the US, the EU, and allies like Australia, Japan, and South Korea must be ready to make clear that the court’s ruling must be binding and that there would be costs to China for not respecting it if it lost the case.

https://news.vice.com/article/we-will-find-creative-ways-to-punish-you-over-south-china-sea-us-tells-beijing?utm_source=vicenewsfb