BEIJING, April 30 (Reuters) - China's military said on Thursday its naval and air forces held combat readiness patrols near the Scarborough Shoal in the disputed South China Sea.
The patrols come in response to annual regional drills from April 20 to May 8, bringing together forces from Australia, New Zealand, the Philippines and the United States to showcase advanced weapons capabilities and operational readiness.
The annual Balikatan or "shoulder to shoulder" exercises involve the largest number
of participating nations to date, U.S. and Philippine officials have said.
They rehearse coastal defence manoeuvres and test ability to work together to protect territorial waters, with tactics such as repelling a mock assault with live fire against designated targets and intercepting threats.
"Such patrols serve as an effective countermeasure to cope with all sorts of rights-violation and provocative acts," the Southern Theater Command of the Chinese military said in a statement describing Thursday's exercises.
"They are meant to resolutely safeguard China's territorial sovereignty and uphold peace and stability in the South China Sea."
Later on Thursday, the China Coast Guard also issued a statement saying it carried out "law-enforcement patrols" near the Scarborough Shoal, a major point of contention over sovereignty and fishing rights.
The Armed Forces of the Philippines, in response to the Chinese patrols, said its monitoring systems have not validated any unusual or large-scale military activity in the area that matches Beijing's narrative.
"This appears to be another instance of information operations designed to project a false sense of control and to justify their illegal, coercive, and aggressive presence within the Philippines' Exclusive Economic Zone," said Roy Vincent Trinidad, Philippine Navy spokesperson for the South China Sea.
In 2024, China defined a baseline of "territorial waters" around the Scarborough Shoal, which it claims as its territory and calls Huangyan Island.
Manila protested the Chinese claims, saying they "infringe upon Philippine sovereignty and contravene international law."
China has previously criticised the joint military exercises by the Philippines and its allies, saying they raise regional tension.
The Asia-Pacific region needs peace and stability, rather than outside powers stirring up division, Chinese defence ministry spokesperson Zhang Xiaogang told a press conference on Thursday, in comments on the U.S.-Philippine drills.
(Reporting by Beijing Newsroom, additional reporting by Nestor Corrales in Manila; Editing by Himani Sarkar and Clarence Fernandez)
