China’s military has launched military drills near disputed waters in the South China Sea.
The Southern Theatre Command said on Wednesday that it had carried out air and sea combat patrols “near Huangyan Island” – the Chinese name for the Scarborough Shoal – to test “strike capabilities”. The exercises appeared to be a response to same-day military manoeuvres by the United States, Australia, Canada and the Philippines.
The Chinese exercises tested the reconnaissance and early warning capabilities of its troops, Beijing said.
“All military activities that disrupt the South China Sea, create hotspots, and undermine regional peace and stability are all being controlled to the best extent,” it noted.
In a joint statement, military chiefs from the US, Australia, Canada and the Philippines said they “stand together to address common maritime challenges and underscore our shared dedication to upholding international law and the rules-based order”. They said the two-day exercises were being held to uphold unhindered passage in the Asia Pacific region.
Standoff
Beijing and Manila have been locked in a tense standoff in recent months, as China continues to press claims to almost the entire South China Sea, despite a 2016 international tribunal ruling that its assertion has no legal basis.
Scarborough Shoal is 240km (150 miles) west of the Philippines’ main island of Luzon and nearly 900km (560 miles) from the nearest major Chinese land mass of Hainan.
China seized the shoal, a triangular chain of reefs and rocks that form part of a rich fishing ground, after a months long stand-off in 2012. The shoal had long served as a safe harbour for Filipino fishermen.
There have also been confrontations at Second Thomas Shoal where the Philippines makes regular resupply missions to sailors living on board a warship that Manila grounded there in 1999. Second Thomas Shoal, which lies about 200 kilometres (124 miles) from the western Philippine island of Palawan, and more than 1,000 kilometres (621 miles) from China’s southern Hainan island.
In June, Chinese coastguards armed with knives and axes boarded Philippine naval vessels near the strategic reef with one sailor losing a thumb and Philippine equipment seized or destroyed.
Beijing blamed the escalation on Manila and maintained its actions to protect its claims were legal and proportional.
Last month, the US said it would provide $500m in additional military funding to the Philippines to combat Beijing’s growing assertiveness in the region.
Beijing said in response that “wooing countries from outside the region to provoke confrontation… will only undermine regional stability and aggravate tensions”.
The investment “will only lead to greater insecurity” for Manila, it warned.
In addition to China and the Philippines, Vietnam, Malaysia, Brunei and Taiwan also claim parts of the sea, which is regarded as a potential flashpoint and a delicate fault line in the US-China regional rivalry.
The US military has deployed navy ships and fighter jets for decades in what it calls freedom of navigation and overnight patrols, which China has opposed and regards as a threat to regional stability.
