The final award of Permanent Court of Arbitration (PCA) ruling on South China Sea released on July 12, 2016. It is imperative to examine if the award would resolve sovereignty disputes over the troubled waters. This study is aimed at outlining the regional impacts of the arbitration. A detailed case study on the changing faces of Vietnamese South China Sea policy in terms of legal position as well as political, economic and defense capacity-building projects. Finally, it concludes with the arbitration implications to Taiwan.