China holds combat drills at a disputed shoal west of the Philippines

China held sea and air combat drills yesterday at disputed Scarborough Shoal, an uninhabited area of reefs and rocks it had seized from the Philippines in the South China Sea.

China on Sunday published new baselines for the shoal including geographic coordinates. A nation’s territorial waters and exclusive economic zone are typically defined as the distance from the baselines.

Tensions between China and the Philippines have been building over their competing claims to Scarborough Shoal and other outcrops in the South China Sea. Clashes have occurred including the Chinese coast guard firing water cannons at Filipino ships.

“This is a patrol and guard activity carried out by the theater troops in accordance with the law,” the People’s Liberation Army’s southern command said in a short statement.

China seized the shoal, which lies west of the main Philippine island of Luzon, in 2012, and has since restricted access to Filipino fishermen there. A 2016 ruling by an international arbitration court found that most Chinese claims in the South China Sea were invalid but Beijing refuses to abide by it.

There was no immediate comment from the Philippine government to China’s drills, but it has repeatedly asserted its sovereignty over Scarborough Shoal, which it says lies within its internationally recognized exclusive economic zone, a 200-nautical-mile (370-kilometer) stretch of waters where it has an exclusive right to tap resources.

Philippine President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. signed two laws last week reaffirming the extent of his country’s maritime territories and right to resources, including in the South China Sea, in a move that angered China.

China’s claims to almost the entire sea overlap with claims by the Philippines, Vietnam, Indonesia and other governments. MDT/AP