China's naval and air forces conducted combat readiness patrols around Scarborough Shoal on Friday, October 30, the People's Liberation Army Southern Theater Command said in a statement reported by Reuters. The shoal has long been a flashpoint in tensions between Beijing and Manila in the South China Sea.

Source: Reuters

The Southern Theater Command said the patrols were a "necessary countermeasure in response to the Philippines' rights-violation and provocative acts" and that it has strengthened such patrols this month. Such patrols, the military said, are aimed at further enhancing control and management over the relevant waters and airspace.

Separately, the China Coast Guard also conducted law-enforcement patrols in the waters around the shoal on Friday, using the same description of a necessary countermeasure. Neither the Chinese military nor the Coast Guard gave details on which Philippine actions they were referring to.

Source: Reuters via SRN News

Manila had not yet responded

The Philippine embassy in Beijing and the Philippine military did not immediately respond to a request for comment, Reuters reported. Tensions between China and the Philippines resurfaced at the close of a two-day Association of Southeast Asian Nations defence gathering on Thursday, with Beijing accusing an unnamed Philippine politician of obstructing its participation in the event.

China claims sovereignty over almost the entire South China Sea through a nine-dash line on its maps that cuts into parts of the exclusive economic zones of Malaysia, Vietnam, the Philippines, Brunei and Indonesia. An international arbitral tribunal ruled in 2016 that China's sweeping claims have no basis under international law — a decision Beijing rejects.

What is solid

  • The PLA Southern Theater Command said naval and air forces held combat readiness patrols around Scarborough Shoal on Friday and that patrols were strengthened this month.
  • The China Coast Guard separately said it held law-enforcement patrols around the shoal on Friday.
  • The Philippine embassy in Beijing and the Philippine military had not immediately responded when Reuters sought comment.

What is only claimed

  • China described the patrols as a countermeasure to Philippine 'rights-violation and provocative acts' but did not specify which actions it meant — that characterisation is Beijing's claim, not an established finding.