China's armed forces and coast guard reported patrols near the contested Scarborough Shoal on Sunday, a day after Philippine officials warned that Manila continues to face a threat from Beijing even as tensions between Washington and Beijing have eased recently.
The Philippine military said the previous week it had conducted a five-day maritime exercise with U.S. forces in waters close to the Scarborough Shoal. The drills, held from Tuesday to Saturday, were described by the Philippine military as the third such exercise this year and were intended to reinforce interoperability and maritime security between the two countries.
Scarborough Shoal, located in waters Manila refers to as the West Philippine Sea, remains one of the region's most disputed maritime features. The atoll has frequently been at the centre of confrontations between China and the Philippines over claims to sovereignty and rights to fish the surrounding waters.
In a statement posted on the WeChat platform, the People's Liberation Army's Southern Theatre Command said naval and air units had carried out combat readiness patrols in the "territorial sea and airspace" of the atoll and its adjacent areas. The command said, "Such patrols serve as an effective countermeasure to cope with all sorts of rights violations and provocative acts." The statement did not identify any specific country.
Separately, China's coast guard issued a statement saying it conducted law enforcement patrols near the Scarborough Shoal. The coast guard added that since this month it had dealt with vessels it described as engaged in "illegal rights-violation activities in accordance with laws and regulations," though it did not provide further details.
According to the Armed Forces of the Philippines, the bilateral exercise with the United States encompassed visit-board-search-and-seizure drills and was intended to underline both nations' commitment to stronger defence ties, enhanced maritime domain awareness, and support for a rules-based order at sea.
The Philippine embassy in Beijing did not immediately respond to an emailed request for comment.
China's movements coincided with the gathering in Singapore of defence ministers, military chiefs and policymakers for the Shangri-La Dialogue, a major regional defence forum. On the sidelines of that meeting, Philippine Defence Secretary Gilberto Teodoro told Reuters that Manila continues to face a "severe threat" from China both territorially and politically.
Teodoro's remarks stressed that the perceived threat persists despite what he described as a recent thaw in U.S.-China relations following a summit between Presidents Donald Trump and Xi Jinping this month. "We have no choice but really to be resilient and to stand up against Chinese aggression," he said.
The Philippines and China have experienced repeated maritime standoffs in the South China Sea in recent years, including incidents that resulted in collisions between vessels and injuries to personnel. China asserts sovereignty over nearly the entire South China Sea through the use of a "nine-dash line" depicted on its maps. That claim overlaps with the exclusive economic zones of the Philippines, Brunei, Malaysia, Vietnam and Indonesia.
In 2016, the Permanent Court of Arbitration in The Hague ruled that China’s expansive maritime claims were not supported by international law, a decision Beijing has rejected. Taiwan advances broadly similar maritime claims to those of China in the South China Sea.
The recent patrols and the prior joint drills illustrate continuing tensions in the area, with both sides describing their actions as defensive measures intended to protect claimed rights and maritime security.