China is conducting
"combat patrols"
in the disputed South China Sea on Sunday, the scene of recent incidents with the Philippines, as that country holds joint military exercises with the United States, Japan and Australia.
In recent months, tensions between China and the Philippines - which are increasingly asserting their territorial claims - have reached levels not seen in years.
A series of incidents near disputed reefs has regularly given rise to an increase in tensions between Beijing and Manila since the end of 2023.
“On April 7, the Southern Theater Command of the Chinese People's Liberation Army will conduct joint naval and air combat patrols in the South China Sea
,” the military said in a statement.
The document does not specify either the scale of these exercises or their location. The China Sea is a vast maritime area through which much of the trade between Asia and the rest of the world passes.
“All military activities that disrupt the situation in the South China Sea and create hot spots are under control
,” the Chinese military adds, in an apparent allusion to military exercises by other countries in the same waters.
“Collective commitment” around the Philippines
On Saturday, the Philippines, the United States, Japan and Australia announced the joint holding of naval and air exercises in the Philippines' exclusive economic zone on Sunday.
This will demonstrate
the “collective commitment”
of the allies
“to strengthen regional and international cooperation in favor of a free and open Indo-Pacific region”
, underlined the four countries.
Read alsoChina Sea: Beijing castigates “the provocations” of the United States and the Philippines
A trilateral summit between American President Joe Biden, his Philippine counterpart Ferdinand Marcos and Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida is also scheduled for April 11 at the White House.
The naval exercises and summit come after several skirmishes between Chinese and Filipino ships near atolls off the Philippines in recent months.
Water cannons
Last week, three Filipino soldiers were injured during a skirmish with the Chinese coast guard who had blocked and damaged their ship using powerful water cannons off one of the disputed reefs, the atoll Second Thomas.
Beijing claims to have been the first nation to discover and name the islands in the South China Sea.
China views with concern the strengthening of military ties between the United States and the Philippines, seen by the Asian giant as a way of thwarting its territorial claims in the region.
Other coastal countries (Philippines, Vietnam, Malaysia, Brunei) have competing claims in the South China Sea and each controls several islands.
Seized by the Philippines, the Permanent Court of Arbitration, an organization based in the Netherlands, rejected the Chinese claims in 2016, considering them to have no legal basis.
Beijing denounced this decision, considering in particular the Philippine procedure before this jurisdiction to be non-compliant.
In recent years, China has built artificial islands in the China Sea which it has militarized to strengthen its positions.
Senior US officials have repeatedly affirmed
America's
"ironclad" commitment to defending the Philippines in the South China Sea in the event of an armed attack.
At the same time, the Philippines and Japan began talks on a defense pact that would allow both countries to deploy troops in each other's territories. Manila has already reached a similar agreement with Australia and the United States.