China conducts border patrol in the South China Sea due to ‘territorial dispute’… “Response to Philippine provocations”

(Seoul = Yonhap News) Reporter Kwon Sook-hee = China conducted a security patrol on the 30th at Scarborough Reef (Chinese name: Huangyan Island, Philippine name: Bajo de Masinloc, or Panatag Reef) in the South China Sea, an area of ​​territorial dispute with the Philippines.

According to China's state-run Xinhua News Agency and China Central Television (CCTV), the Southern Theater of the People's Liberation Army of China announced that it mobilized navy and air force troops on this day to conduct combat-ready border patrols in the territorial waters and airspace of Huangyan Island and surrounding waters and airspace.

The Southern Theater explained that it had taken necessary countermeasures against the Philippines' sovereignty infringement and provocative actions.

The Southern Theater announced that it is strengthening patrols and security around Huangyandao territorial waters in October.

Through this, he added, we are effectively responding to various sovereignty violations and provocative acts and resolutely protecting national sovereignty and security.

On this day, the Chinese Coast Guard also announced that it had conducted law enforcement patrols in Huangyan Island and surrounding waters in response to the Philippines' sovereignty infringement and provocative actions.

Neither the Chinese military nor the coast guard specifically mentioned which actions on the Philippine side they considered provocations.

CCTV also released a video showing the Chinese military capturing a Philippine C-208 patrol plane and putting it on alert, but it was not confirmed whether this video was filmed that day.

Tensions between China and the Philippines have heightened following the ASEAN (Association of Southeast Asian Nations) Enlarged Defense Ministers' Meeting (ADMM-Plus) held in Cebu, Philippines on the 28th to 29th (local time).

China claimed that a Philippine politician interfered with China's attendance at the meeting. The Philippines countered that China had an opportunity to clarify its position.

Reuters reported that the Philippine Embassy in China and the Philippine military did not immediately respond to requests for comment.

China claims sovereignty over almost the entire South China Sea based on the so-called 'South Sea nine-dash line' (nine-dash line) drawn along the perimeter of the South China Sea.

This nine-dash line overlaps with parts of the exclusive economic zone (EEZ) of the Philippines, Malaysia, Vietnam, and Indonesia.

In 2016, the Permanent Court of International Arbitration (PCA) in The Hague, Netherlands, ruled that China's nine-dash line claim had no legal basis, but China has not recognized this ruling.