China held military drills near a South China Sea flashpoint over the weekend as the U.S.’s Seventh Fleet joined key Asia-Pacific partners for their own joint exercise in nearby waters.
On Saturday, the U.S.’s forward-deployed Seventh Fleet joined naval units from the Philippines, Japan, Australia, and New Zealand and trained inside the Philippines’ internationally recognized exclusive economic zone.
Meanwhile, China’s Southern Command Theater Command announced it had conducted “reconnaissance and early warning, sea and air patrols, and other routine exercises and training activities” near Huangyan Island, Beijing’s name for Scarborough Shoal.
“Some countries outside the region have disrupted the South China Sea and created regional instability,” the statement read, reiterating Beijing’s claim of “indisputable sovereignty” over the Scarborough Shoal and adjacent waters.
Warships take part in a multilateral exercise within the Philippines exclusive economic zone on September 28. The drill saw the Southeast Asian country join U.S., Australian, Japanese, and New Zealand naval and air assets for drills.
U.S. Navy 7th Fleet
The command added that its forces remain on high alert and will “resolutely defend China’s sovereignty, security, and maritime rights and interests” in the South China Sea.
However, the Philippine defense authorities rejected claims these Chinese drills took place near the disputed atoll.
“Our troops did not observe any exercises nearby,” Rear Adm. Roy Vincent Trinidad, a Philippine Navy spokesperson, told local media Sunday. “We have to understand that sometimes China is only doing these announcements for its internal audience to make it appear that they are not weak because it could cause a backlash at home.”
The Chinese Foreign Ministry did not immediately respond to a written request for comment.
Scarborough Shoal, a traditional fishing grounds for both Philippine and Chinese anglers, sits about 100 miles from the major Philippine island of Luzon and over 600 miles from the nearest Chinese province, Hainan. China seized de facto control over the area after a standoff with the Philippines in 2012.
International maritime law grants the Southeast Asian country the sole right to natural resources within the zone, which extends 200 nautical miles (230 miles) from its coastline.
The fourth-of-its-kind maritime cooperative activity (MCA) also took place within the Philippine EEZ and included drills focused on deck landings, hoisting, search and rescue, according to a Seventh Fleet statement released Sunday.
The activity also featured surface operations. The Philippines released footage of the ships sailing in formation during a division tactics exercise, aimed to strengthen joint coordination and tactical maneuvers within a formation.
Participating assets included U.S. missile-guided destroyer the USS Howard, Philippine corvette the BRP Emilio Jacinto and guided-missile frigate the BRP Antonio Luna, Australian light cruiser the HMAS Sydney, an Australian Air Force P-8A Poseidon patrol plane, Japanese destroyer the JS Sazanami, and New Zealand auxiliary ship the HMNZS Aotearoa.
Vice Adm. Fred Kacher, head of the Seventh Fleet, said the event provided U.S. service members the chance to work alongside allied counterparts, “demonstrating our enduring commitment to a free and open Indo-Pacific and building our operational skillsets in one of the most dynamic maritime regions in the world.”
The event came as Washington and its allies continued to step up their cooperation in the region in response to a more assertive Beijing, which asserts sovereignty over most features in the busy South China Sea. This puts it at odds with competing claims by the Philippines, Vietnam, Indonesia, Malaysia, Taiwan, and Brunei.
The MCA took place just two days after the Sydney, Aotearoa, and Sazanami sailed through the China-claimed Taiwan Strait. The Sazanami‘s passage marked the first Japanese transit of the strait since the formation of the Japan Self-Defense Forces after World War II.
China is locked in a yearslong territorial dispute with Japan over the Tokyo-administered Senkaku Islands. Meanwhile, China’s increasingly forceful expansion into the Philippine EEZ has led to clashes over the past year, with several resulting in Philippine injuries.
