China conducts naval, air patrols around disputed shoal in South China Sea
The drills tested naval and air coordination as Beijing tightened rules banning unauthorized fishing, mining and coral harvesting.
- On Saturday, China's People Liberation Army Southern Theater Command conducted joint air and naval drills near Scarborough Shoal to test combat readiness and territorial defense capabilities in the South China Sea.
- Tensions escalated after the Philippines earlier this week presented a United Nations bid to extend its seabed rights, prompting Beijing to describe the exercise as a response to "certain countries" undermining regional stability.
- Beijing also released new regulations on Saturday designating the area around Scarborough Shoal as a nature reserve, with Xinhua reporting that the rules ban unauthorized fishing, mining, and harvesting of corals.
- Maritime tensions intensified as at least three confrontations between Chinese coast guards and Philippine sailors occurred last week, including one incident where a sailor was allegedly wounded by a baton strike.
- The People Liberation Army Southern Theater Command declared that territorial sea baselines designated by Manila near Huangyan Dao are "illegal and invalid," further complicating the maritime sovereignty dispute.
52 Articles
52 Articles
China said on Saturday it had held military and coast guard exercises near Scarborough Shoal, a disputed reef in the South China Sea.
China tightens Huangyan Dao reserve rules amid Philippines dispute
China has imposed new management rules on the Huangyan Dao nature reserve and staged nearby naval-air drills. The move is set to deepen its stand-off with the Philippines over competing South China Sea claims.
Russian phantom floats, Chinese spy ships and illegal fishing... Our oceans have become the prolongation of land conflicts. How to regain control of increasingly militarized and opaque maritime spaces? Marianne Péron-Doise, Director of the Geopolitical Observatory of the Indopacific at IRIS (Institute for International and Strategic Relations) and author of Geopolitics of the Seas and Oceans at the Blue Cavalier editions, is our guest.
Saudi Gazette
AlKhaleej TodayChina holds military drills near disputed Scarborough Shoal
BEIJING — China conducted joint naval and air drills near the disputed Scarborough Shoal on Saturday, escalating tensions with the Philippines days after Manila submitted a United Nations claim to extend its seabed rights in the South China Sea.The exercises near the shoal — known as Huangyan Island in China and Panatag Shoal in the Philippines — tested the Chinese military's ability to coordinate air and sea operations and rapidly deploy reinfo…
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