evidence: Thankfully, there is a potential solution to this zero-sum game, and it is one that has already proved successful in Southeast Asia: the patient presentation of verifiable evidence to a neutral tribunal. Indonesia and Malaysia resolved their dispute over the islands of Ligitan and Sipadan through the International Court of Justice (ICJ) in 2002. More relevant to the South China Sea dispute was the ICJ’s resolution of the dispute between Malaysia and Singapore over three sets of uninhabited rocks in the Singapore Straits in 2008.[5] The ICJ was able to rule that Pedra Branca belonged to Singapore while Middle Rocks belonged to Malaysia even though the two are just a kilometre apart. It ruled in favour of Singapore over Pedra Branca mainly because Singapore had carried out acts of physical administration there, notably by building a lighthouse on the rock. The judges also specified a different fate for a third feature, South Ledge, because it is underwater at high tide and therefore not ‘territory’ as such. It ruled that sovereignty could only be settled later, once the two countries had agreed on a boundary between their territorial seas. [...] [5] International Court of Justice, Sovereignty over Pedra Branca/Pulau Batu Puteh, Middle Rocks and South Ledge (Malaysia/Singapore) Summary of the Judgment of 23 May 2008 https://www.icj-cij.org/en/case/130/summaries.