China’s military and coast guard said they yesterday carried out patrols near disputed waters in the South China Sea, a day after the Philippines said it remained under threat from Beijing despite a recent easing in US-China tensions.
Philippine and US forces held a five-day maritime exercise in the same waters last week near the Scarborough Shoal (Huangyan Island, 黃岩島), the third such drill this year, to bolster interoperability and maritime security, the Philippine military said yesterday.
The shoal is one of Asia’s most contested maritime features and has become a frequent flashpoint between China and the Philippines over sovereignty and fishing rights.
Photo: Reuters
The Chinese People’s Liberation Army’s Southern Theater Command said in a statement on WeChat that its naval and air units carried out combat readiness patrols in the “territorial sea and airspace” of the atoll and its surrounding areas.
“Such patrols serve as an effective countermeasure to cope with all sorts of rights violations and provocative acts,” the command said.
China’s coast guard said in a separate statement it conducted law enforcement patrols near the Scarborough Shoal, adding that since this month, it had dealt with ships engaged in “illegal rights-violation activities in accordance with laws and regulations,” without elaborating.
The Armed Forces of the Philippines said the exercise with the US, which included visit-board-search-and-seizure drills, underscored both countries’ commitment to deeper defense ties, improved maritime domain awareness and support for a rules-based order at sea.
Speaking on the sidelines of the Shangri-La Dialogue in Singapore, Philippine Secretary of National Defense Gilberto Teodoro said Manila remains under “severe threat” from China territorially and politically, despite a recent thaw in US-China tensions following a summit between US President Donald Trump and Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平) last month.
“We have no choice but really to be resilient and to stand up against Chinese aggression,” he said.
The Philippines and China have been locked in repeated maritime standoffs in the South China Sea for years, at times resulting in collisions between vessels and injuries to personnel.
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