BEIJING: China on Wednesday (Aug 7) carried out a combat patrol to test “strike capabilities” near Scarborough Shoal in the South China Sea, a flashpoint area also claimed by the Philippines.
Beijing has continued to press its claims to almost the entire South China Sea despite an international tribunal ruling that its assertion has no legal basis.
On Wednesday, its People’s Liberation Army’s Southern Theater Command said it had “organised a joint combat patrol in the sea and air space near Huangyan Island”, the Chinese name for the Scarborough Shoal.
The manoeuvres also tested the reconnaissance and early warning capabilities of its troops, Beijing said.
“All military activities that disrupt the South China Sea, create hotspots, and undermine regional peace and stability are all being controlled to the best extent,” it added.
Scarborough Shoal is 240km west of the Philippines’ main island of Luzon and nearly 900km from the nearest major Chinese land mass of Hainan.
China in 2012 used coastguard vessels to take control of the shoal, a triangular chain of reefs and rocks that are part of a rich fishing ground and had long been used by Filipino fishermen as a safe harbour.
