“MESS UP THE SITUATION”: CHINA HOLDS COMBAT PATROL IN SOUTH CHINA SEA AMID US-LED WAR GAMES

Sun 07 April 2024:

The United States is holding its first joint military drills with the Philippines, Japan, and Australia on the same day that China has raised the stakes in the disputed seas by conducting military “combat patrols” in the South China Sea.

The news of a surprise naval drill by Beijing on Sunday coincided with the declaration by the defense chiefs of the four nations that the Philippines would conduct joint drills in the same area on the same day.

“All military activities that mess up the situation in the South China Sea and create hotspots are under control,” Beijing’s People’s Liberation Army (PLA) Southern Theater Command said in a statement in an apparent swipe at the US-led drills being held in the same waters.

The Chinese army gave no further details about its activities in the waterway on Sunday.

The exercises took place days before US President Joe Biden was due to hold the first trilateral summit with the leaders of Japan and the Philippines.

Top US officials have repeatedly declared the US’s “ironclad” commitment to defending the Philippines against an armed attack in the South China Sea – to the consternation of Beijing.

The Philippines insists that, under international law, the area is within its 200-nautical mile exclusive economic zone. Philippine coastguard spokesman Jay Tarriela also accused China of conducting “illegal enforcement operations”.

The joint drills, hosted by the Philippines on Sunday, are intended to “[ensure] that all countries are free to fly, sail, and operate wherever international law allows,” US Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin said in a joint statement.

Named the “Maritime Cooperative Activity”, the drills will include naval and air force units from all four countries, the joint statement said.

Reports said the exercises will also include anti-submarine warfare training to safeguard “the rule of law that is the foundation for a peaceful and stable Indo-Pacific region”.

China claims territorial sovereignty over nearly all of the South China Sea and has been increasingly assertive in the region in recent years.

A 2016 ruling by the arbitral court in The Hague declared Beijing’s claim as without basis. But Beijing has brushed aside that ruling as well as the competing territorial claims by the Philippines and other Southeast Asian nations.

On Saturday, China’s coastguard also traded accusations with the Philippines. It said it had “handled” a situation on Thursday at Iroquois Reef, where several ships from the Philippines were engaged in “illegal” operations.

“Under the guise of ‘protecting fishing’, Philippine government ships have illegally violated and provoked, organised media to deliberately incite and mislead, continuing to undermine stability in the South China Sea,” spokesman Gan Yu said.

“We are telling the Philippines that any infringement tactics are in vain,” Gan said, adding that China would “regularly enforce the law in waters under [its] jurisdiction”.

SOURCE: INDEPENDENT PRESS AND NEWS AGENCIES

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