Chinese military patrols Scarborough Shoal amid rising tension

The Chinese military held a combat readiness exercise around a flashpoint with the Philippines in the South China Sea, its Southern Theater Command said, the latest exercise Beijing has undertaken in the region.

The command on Thursday “organized naval and air forces to carry out combat readiness patrols in the territorial waters and airspace of China’s Huangyan Island and surrounding areas,” it said in a statement, referring to the disputed Scarborough Shoal by its Chinese name.

Scarborough Shoal, known in the Philippines as Bajo de Masinloc, has served as a traditional fishing ground for generations of local fishermen. It lies well inside Manila’s exclusive economic zone, just 125 nautical miles (232 km) from the main island of Luzon.

China, however, claims historical rights over the shoal as it is inside the so-called nine-dash line it displays on its maps. Ships and boats from both countries have been confronting each other here.

Since the beginning of February,  the Southern Command’s troops have been holding drills around the shoal to “further strengthen the control of relevant sea and air areas, resolutely defend national sovereignty, and security and resolutely maintain peace and stability in the South China Sea,” it said.

The Chinese military also released a video clip depicting Thursday’s combat patrol where at least two warships and several aircraft, including fighter jets and bombers, were seen operating in the Scarborough region.

The Philippine military has yet to react to the Chinese patrols.

Last week, Manila accused a Chinese military helicopter of flying dangerously within 3 meters (10 feet) of a Philippine aircraft over the shoal, saying the “reckless action posed a serious risk to the safety” of the Filipino pilots and passengers.

China ramping up military operations

Also on Thursday, the People’s Liberation Army ( PLA) completed a four-day, live-fire exercise in the Gulf of Tonkin, territory shared with Vietnam. The exercise was announced just as Hanoi released a map of territorial borders in the gulf.

On Wednesday, Beijing unilaterally and unexpectedly designated an area for live-fire shooting just 40 nautical miles (74 km) from the Taiwanese port city of Kaohsiung, prompting the island’s military to dispatch naval, air and land forces while condemning the move.

Taiwan’s ministry of defense on Friday said Beijing “has been escalating its military threats,” and has become “the biggest troublemaker” in the Indo-Pacific.

The live-fire shooting has yet to take place, but analysts warned against the dangerous practice of conducting military exercises without giving notice. A similar incident happened last weekend in the waters between Australia and New Zealand.

Several commercial flights had to divert last Friday because of a live-fire exercise in the Tasman Sea that China conducted at a very short notice.

“The live-fire exercises were a display to show that China’s military forces could cut off the air and sea links between Australia and New Zealand at any time, with no warning,” wrote Anne-Marie Brady, a professor at the University of Canterbury in Christchurch, New Zealand.

They were “a demonstration of China’s growing sea power in the Southwest Pacific and meant to normalize the PLA presence there,” Brady wrote in The Diplomat.

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The latest exercises around the region are a clear example of saber-rattling, according to regional specialist Carl Thayer, an emeritus professor at Australia’s University of New South Wales.

“Given China’s continued bullying of the Philippines, Beijing is sending a message to regional states as well as the Trump administration that it will defend its sovereign rights and interests whenever they are challenged,” he told Radio Free Asia, a news service affiliated with BenarNews.