China carried out a combat patrol to test “strike capabilities” near a flashpoint reef in the South China Sea on Wednesday, as the United States and its allies held joint military drills in the same waters.
Tensions in the disputed waterway have spiked following a series of escalating confrontations between Chinese and Philippine vessels that have fanned fears of a wider conflict that could draw in the United States due to its mutual defense treaty with Manila.
Beijing claims almost the entire South China Sea, brushing off rival claims of several Southeast Asian countries, including the Philippines, 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 Wednesday it had held joint sea and air 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 maneuvers tested “the reconnaissance and early warning, rapid mobility, and joint strike capabilities of theater troops.”
The announcement came as the Philippines on Wednesday launched two days of sea and air exercises with the United States, Canada, and Australia.
‘Meant to Intimidate’
Philippine military spokesman Xerxes Trinidad said initial reports showed “no trace of Chinese military activity” near Scarborough Shoal on Wednesday, apart from the usual presence of “Chinese maritime militia vessels.”
However, three Chinese naval vessels had “tailed” the four-nation drills, he said.
And while the Chinese military had been deployed near Scarborough Shoal in the past, one analyst told AFP Wednesday’s action showed they were “becoming more aggressive and forceful.”
‘Aggravate Tensions’
Recent clashes between Philippine and Chinese vessels have focused on Second Thomas Shoal in the Spratly Islands, where a handful of Filipino troops are stationed on a navy vessel that Manila deliberately grounded on the reef in 1999 to assert its claims to the area.
One of the most serious incidents took place in June, when Chinese sailors brandishing weapons, including knives and an axe, boarded Philippine naval vessels during a resupply mission to the strategic reef.
Last month, the United States said it would provide $500 million in additional military funding to the Philippines, which has been modernizing its armed forces.
Matthew Walsh and Cecil Morella, with AFP
