China conducts military exercise near disputed Scarborough Reef with Philippines

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There China “ conducts joint combat patrol in sea and airspace near Huangyan Island “, the Chinese name for Scarborough Reef, the military’s Southern Theater of Operations said in a statement Wednesday. The operation aims to ” test the reconnaissance and early warning, rapid maneuver and joint strike capabilities of its troops “, he said. All military activities that disrupt the situation in the South China Sea, create points of tension and undermine regional peace and stability are under control. “, the army stressed. An apparent allusion to the maneuvers currently being carried out by the Philippines with their Western allies.

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Joint exercises between the Philippines, the United States, Canada and Australia

These official maneuvers by the Chinese army, which are rare around this reef, come at a time when the Philippines launched, this Wednesday in the region, two days of joint maritime and air exercises with the UNITED STATESTHE Canada and theAustralia. According to a statement from the US Navy, this joint exercise aims to “ sustain “the emergence of a” Free and Open Indo-Pacific Region ” This expression, frequently used by the United States, designates, according to them, an Asia-Pacific zone which is free from hegemonic influences. A veiled way of criticizing China and its territorial claims in the region.

This military activity on both sides also comes after several incidents in recent months around islets that Beijing and Manila are fiercely contesting in the South China Sea. Both countries consider themselves to be within their rights.

In 2012, Beijing took over the Scarborough Reef from Manila. Since then, it has deployed ships there that the Philippines says are harassing its fleet and its fishermen trying to access the area. The Chinese military has deployed there in the past, Jay Batongbacal, director of the Institute for Maritime Affairs and the Law of the Sea in Manila, told Agence France-Presse (AFP). But with this new exercise on Wednesday, the goal, he said, is ” to intimidate “. “ This is undoubtedly a message, a demonstration of force.. »

Washington’s involvement

In recent months, tensions between China and the Philippines have reached levels not seen in several years. Verbal and physical confrontations have been frequent around Second Thomas Atoll, where Filipino soldiers are stationed on a naval vessel that Manila deliberately ran aground in 1999 to assert its sovereignty claims. Despite the tensions, Beijing and Manila held talks in July and reached a ” temporary arrangement ” for the resupply of Philippine troops on this atoll.

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Since Philippine President Ferdinand Marcos came to power in 2022, Manila has been asserting its sovereignty claims over some disputed reefs more firmly, in the face of Beijing, which has no intention of giving in to its claims. This China-Philippines confrontation is fueling fears of a potential conflict that could lead to Washington’s intervention because of its mutual defense treaty with Manila. China regularly accuses the United States of deliberately supporting nations that compete with it over territorial claims in order to counter its rise to power.

China claims much of the South China Sea’s islands and reefs. Other littoral states such as Vietnam, Malaysia and Brunei have competing, sometimes overlapping, claims. Each country typically controls several islets. On Aug. 2, the Philippines and Japan, both U.S. allies, held their first joint exercise in the South China Sea to strengthen cooperation against China, less than a month after Tokyo and Manila signed a pact allowing one country’s troops to move into the other’s territory.

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