US, Filipino forces conduct defence drills

BEIJING: Missiles fired off the coast of the northern Philippines yesterday as US and Filipino forces conducted their first integrated defence drills, hours after China said it had seized control of a reef claimed by Manila.

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The Philippines and China have been engaged in months of confrontations over the South China Sea, which Beijing claims nearly in its entirety despite an international ruling that its assertion has no legal basis.

As many as 17,000 personnel are participating in the annual “Balikatan” exercises, which this year will simulate a “full-scale battle scenario” as the treaty allies seek to deter China's ambitions in the disputed waterway.

Chinese state broadcaster CCTV on Saturday reported that the country’s coastguard had “implemented maritime control” over Tiexian Reef, also known as Sandy Cay, this month.

The tiny sandbank, part of the Spratly Islands, lies near Thitu Island, also called Pag-asa and site of a Philippine military facility.

The Philippine government has yet to formally respond to the claim.

In coastal Zambales province, hours north of the capital Manila, AFP journalists watched yesterday as the US Marine Corp's new MADIS short-range air defence system knocked a pair of drones from the sky.