PLA patrols in South China Sea for second day as tensions mount with Philippines

Chinese military says it carried out ‘routine patrol’ following US-Philippine joint exercise

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A Chinese destroyer fleet was also shown on state television carrying out a drill in the Pacific Ocean over the Lunar New Year period. Photo: CCTV

Published: 4:02pm, 5 Feb 2025Updated: 6:58pm, 5 Feb 2025

The Chinese military conducted a patrol in the South China Sea for a second day in a row on Wednesday, as tensions mount with the Philippines over the disputed waters.

The People’s Liberation Army Southern Theatre Command said it had carried out a “routine patrol” in the area, without elaborating. It followed Tuesday’s PLA air patrol over the contested Scarborough Shoal – known as Huangyan Island in China.

The Chinese military activities came after the Philippines and the United States held a joint patrol over the South China Sea on Tuesday, in an area close to the exclusive economic zone claimed by Manila.

Responding to that exercise on Wednesday, the PLA said Manila had “colluded with extraterritorial countries” and undermined regional stability, and that China’s military would defend the country’s territorial sovereignty and maritime rights.

“It is aimed at providing a pretext for its illegal claims in the South China Sea and undermining China’s legitimate maritime rights and interests in the region,” Southern Theatre Command spokesman Senior Colonel Tian Junli said in a statement.

The latest patrol came after Chinese state broadcaster CCTV on Tuesday aired footage of a PLA destroyer fleet conducting an exercise in the Pacific Ocean, soon after Beijing and Manila traded barbs over a Chinese navy transit through the Basilan Strait earlier this week.