Chinese army conducts drill in South China Sea in response to 4-nation military exercise

By Anadolu staff

ANKARA (AA)- China's military on Sunday conducted a naval and air patrol in the disputed South China Sea, the same day the Philippines, US, Japan and Australia held joint drills amid heightened tensions in the region.

“The Southern Theatre Command of the People’s Liberation Army will conduct a joint air and sea combat patrol in the South China Sea on April 7,” South China Morning Post reported citing the Southern Theatre Command.

The military activities “intended to sabotage the situation” and create “hotspots” in the waters were “well under control," said the command said in a statement in an apparent reference to the four-nation military drills.

The US, Japan, Australia and the Philippines are staging a “maritime cooperative activity” on Sunday within what they called the “Philippine exclusive economic zone.”

The exercise is taking place in the disputed waterway — which Beijing claims almost in full — days before US President Joe Biden is due to hold the first trilateral summit with the leaders of the Philippines and Japan.

It features anti-submarine warfare training, communication drills and sailing in formation to strengthen the interoperability among their defense forces.

The territorial claims in the disputed South China Sea remain highly contested, despite repeated calls for a negotiated settlement and avoiding breaches of sovereignty.

In 2016, China was dealt a blow when the Permanent Court of Arbitration (PCA), an international tribunal based in The Hague, ruled that Beijing’s nine-dash line claim has no legal basis under international law.