For its sheer absurdity, China’s pathetic attempt to rewrite maritime law brings to mind Empress Dowager Cixi, a bizarre figure in China’s Qing Dynasty known for her ruthless tactics and for clinging to power.

In what would make even the porcelain dragons on Xi Jinping’s desk puff smoke, Beijing has announced with so much bravado that it would arrest anyone who would be caught “trespassing” in the South China Sea.

Trespassing, China says? How can Filipinos, for the love of God, be trespassing in their own backyard in the West Philippine Sea which is way closer to the Philippines than China, by any stretch of Beijing’s imagination?

Peking Duck or Peking Opera, take your pick, but the menu or the script, depending on your choice, either leaves a bad taste in the mouth or comes off as just so much bluster. Why China puffs up its chest and trumpets itself as the undisputed overlord of the South China Sea escapes us.

And what’s its basis? Its already discredited nine-dash line claim that it even had the gall to extend with an extra dash to conveniently cover the future annexation Taiwan?

China’s imaginary demarcation had been shred to pieces by the Permanent Court of Arbitration which came out with its landmark 2016 ruling that, in a nutshell, told Beijing to dream on.

The Hague may be a quaint little Dutch town known for tulips, but the court it hosts is an international law heavyweight known for shattering the fragile egos of expansionist regimes.

The PCA laughed the nine-dash line right out of its courtroom, declaring it bereft of “legal basis.” As a backyard bully, China, as expected, did not participate in the proceedings because it read the clear handwriting on the wall that its sea-grabbing adventurism would be called out.

But back to the saber-rattling by a Chinese regime that uses gray tactics against Philippine vessels, government and otherwise, short of pulling the United States into the conflict, blasting water cannons, to keep the two countries’ joint defense treaty out of play, so far.

The very waters that China said are off limits to trespassers have been serving as vital fishing grounds for Southeast Asian nations for centuries. International agreements? Freedom of navigation? Those notions are apparently as outdated as silk fans and eunuchs to Beijing’s Xi.

This blatant attempt to intimidate the Philippines was apparently touched off by the recent private convoy to Scarborough Shoal to supply fishermen there with food and fuel. One tiny boat was able to “breach” the Chinese blockade and declare “mission accomplished” for the Philippines.

China needs to be reminded that the very same PCA ruling that castrated its claim to nearly the entire South China Sea affirmed the Philippines’ exclusive economic zone in the West Philippine Sea.

China’s bluster is but a smokescreen, a desperate attempt to cover up its own internal problems, ranging from an economy growing cold to a population that’s growing restless from over-governance.

By flexing its military muscle and bullying its neighbors in the South China Sea, which overlaps the West Philippine Sea, Xi Jinping hopes to continue to project an image of strength. Alas, a paper dragon, all roar and no fire.

We should all see this, China’s pronouncement, as just another of its spoiled brat tantrums, the desperate acts of a regime that is becoming isolated on the world stage. In all this, the Philippines must not waver and, with its allies like the United States, Japan and Australia, assert the freedom of navigation in the South China Sea.

The high seas belong to no one as they belong to everyone. China, in particular, cannot treat the South China Sea as its personal dipping pool.