China launches combat patrols near Panatag

China yesterday carried out a combat patrol to test "strike capabilities" near Panatag (Scarborough) Shoal in the South China Sea, a flashpoint area also claimed by the Philippines.

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Beijing has continued to press its claims to almost the entire South China Sea despite an international tribunal ruling that its assertion has no legal basis.

Panatag Shoal is 240 kilometers west of Luzon and nearly 900 kilometers from the nearest major Chinese land mass of Hainan.

China in 2012 used coast guard vessels to take control of the shoal, a triangular chain of reefs and rocks that are part of a rich fishing ground and had long been used by Filipino fishermen as a safe harbor.

Yesterday, the Chinese military's Southern Theater Command said it had "organized a joint combat patrol in the sea and air space" near the area.

The maneuvers tested "the reconnaissance and early warning, rapid mobility and joint strike capabilities of theater troops," Beijing said.

China has long used its coast guard to press its claims in the South China Sea.