It's really unfortunate that China has this baseless 9 dash line claim.. Without this unreasonable claim, China could have really become a true alternative power (technology, financial, economy, military, cultural, etc) to counterbalance the US... at the very least for the SEA region... We would've trusted China more and be less suspicious... If anything, ASEAN states would probably be quarreling with each other more in SCS rather than with China.. and the US would be deprived of a reason to turn us into one of their proxies against a rising China.