The Chinese military and coastguard on Saturday launched a sea and air combat readiness patrol around Scarborough Shoal, known as Huangyan Island in China, to “further strengthen its control and defend its sovereignty”, according to an official statement.
The show of force came a day after China’s state broadcaster aired rare footage of Chinese military drills on a contested reef of the Spratly Islands – known as the Nansha Islands in China – highlighting Beijing’s ability to take military action in the event of “sudden military threats”.
The Southern Theatre Command of the People’s Liberation Army (PLA) said it had deployed forces to patrol the waters and airspace as part of its continuous efforts this month to strengthen control over the area.00:18
A statement released by the command on Saturday said the Chinese coastguard had also patrolled the area, adding that the coastguard had been monitoring, warning and expelling ships that had entered the waters.
The patrols come about a month after China and the Philippines accused each of provocative actions near the contested Scarborough Shoal following a tense encounter between two coastguard vessels.
Last month, the Chinese patrol vessel Zhongnan was involved in an incident with the Philippine ship BRP Cabra around 36 nautical miles (67km or 41 miles) south of the shoal in the South China Sea.
At the time, the Philippine coastguard accused the Chinese side of “bully tactics” while the Chinese coastguard described the Philippine claim as an attempt “to stage a show of false collision for cameras and concoct a false narrative to discredit us”.
The PLA has also recently staged drills in contested waters near the Spratlys.
Garrison troops on a reef in the Spratly Islands performed a “comprehensive defence exercise” using armoured vehicles, infantry weapons and drones on a beach and in areas covered by vegetation, state broadcaster CCTV reported on Friday.
Chinese navy troops practised all aspects of island attack and defence in the exercise aimed at “effectively responding to sudden enemy threats”, the report said.
It did not state where the exercise took place, but video footage showed the lighthouse on Mischief Reef, the largest artificial island and Chinese military base in the South China Sea.
“Landing on this island is going to the battlefront,” Xu Weidong, one of the soldiers who took part in the exercise, said in an interview with CCTV. “At the forefront of military combat preparations, we must always remain vigilant and be ready to respond to emergencies at any time.”
“Only by making more preparations in peacetime can we seize the opportunity in wartime and defeat the enemy with a critical hit,” another soldier, Ye Tao, told the state broadcaster.
The footage was revealed after the three-week Balikatan joint exercise by the US and the Philippines concluded earlier this month. The “full battle” war game from April to May involved 16,000 troops and included live-fire tests on Palawan Island, about 250km (155 miles) from Mischief Reef.
Mischief Reef is a coral atoll in the disputed Spratlys. Claimed by Beijing, Manila, Hanoi and Taipei, it is only about 20km from the Second Thomas Shoal and 50km from Sabina Shoal. Both shoals have been hotspots for confrontations between China and the Philippines in recent years.
