China holds drills near disputed South China Sea reef

Chinese Coast Guard boats seen near the Scarborough Shoal

Published September 28, 2024

Chinese naval and air forces have held maneuvers in a disputed part of the South China Sea. The drills came shortly after high-level talks between Beijing and Washington about relieving regional tensions in the area.

Chinese ships and planes on Saturday conducted patrols around the flashpoint Scarborough Shoal in the South China Sea as Beijing continues to assert its claims to almost the entire waterway against the will of several other countries in the region.

The maneuvers come after several tense maritime confrontations, particularly with the Philippines, in recent months. It also coincided with joint exercises carried out by the United States, Australia, Japan, New Zealand and the Philippines in Manila’s exclusive economic zone.

They also follow talks between Foreign Minister Wang Yi and US Secretary of State Antony Blinken in New York on ways to reduce tensions in the region.

What has China said?

Beijing said the training activities around the shoal included “reconnaissance, early warning, and air-sea patrols.”

“Certain countries outside the region are stirring up trouble in the South China Sea, creating instability in the region,” the Southern Theater Command of the People’s Liberation Army said.

“The theater troops maintain a high degree of vigilance, resolutely defending national sovereignty, security and maritime rights and interests, (and) are firm in maintaining peace and stability in the South China Sea,” it said.

“China holds indisputable sovereignty over Huangyan Island and its adjacent waters,” it added, using the Chinese name for Scarborough Shoal.

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SOURCE: www.dw.com

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RELATED: China conducts air, sea patrols near Scarborough Shoal

This photo taken on September 22, 2023 shows Chinese coast guard personnel aboard their rigid hull inflatable boat beside a floating barrier as they guard a passage to the Chinese-controlled Scarborough Shoal in disputed waters of the South China Sea. Ted Aljibe, AFP/File

Published September 28, 2024

BEIJING (UPDATED) — Chinese naval and air forces conducted patrols around a flashpoint reef in the South China Sea on Saturday, after a slew of tense encounters with the Philippines in the disputed waterway in recent months.

The patrols coincided with joint exercises carried out by the United States, Australia, Japan, New Zealand and the Philippines in Manila’s exclusive economic zone.

Beijing claims almost the entire South China Sea, brushing off rival claims of several Southeast Asian countries, the Philippines among them, and an international ruling that its assertion has no legal basis.

Its claims include the waters around Scarborough Shoal — which Beijing seized from Manila in 2012 — where the Chinese military’s Southern Theater Command said Saturday it held air and sea patrols.

The triangular chain of reefs and rocks is 240 kilometers (150 miles) west of the Philippines’ main island of Luzon and nearly 900 kilometers from the nearest major Chinese land mass of Hainan.

Beijing said the training activities around the shoal included “reconnaissance, early warning, and air-sea patrols”.

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SOURCE: www.abs-cbn.com, www.philstar.com

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