United US-Phililine air patrol over South China Sea promotes China's response

Even China itself carried out a <x0 routine patrol” on an contested shallow.

Vice President Ferdinand Marcos Jr., the Philippines, and the United States have increased their commitment to security after increasing tensions between the Philippines and China on the dense waterway.

The day-long exercise between the two Allied countries took place in the West Philippines Sea, said Philippines Air Force spokeswoman Maria Consuello Castillo, using Manila's term for the waters on the South China Sea, which lie within its economic zone.

“Syning the exercise was improving operational co-ordination, raising awareness of airspace, and strengthening capabilities for flexible use of combat force between the two air forces”, Castillo said in a statement, reports Radio Free Europe.

Castillo said three Filipino fighter aircraft, FA-50, and two US B1-B bombers, including a flight over the shallows of Scarborough, where Chinese air forces also accomplished what they called routine patrols.

China's military accused the Philippines of joining patrols that, according to it, were organised by foreign countries to establish peace and stability in the South China Sea”.

Chinese Air Force Units Will “are on high alert, will firmly defend China's territorial sovereignty and maritime rights and control any military activity that destabilises the South China Sea”, she added.

China claims that almost all this strategic waterway is its own, despite claims from Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines, and Vietnam. This waterway is the annual trade route worth $3 trillion.

At a press conference Tuesday, the Filipino navy said it is closely monitoring “three Chinese naval ships within Manila's naval zones, including a missile-equipped frigate.

The presence of the People's Liberation Army Navy reflects the full disregard of international law by the People's Republic of China towards and undermines peace and stability in the region”, said Navy spokesman John Percie Alcos.

On Monday, state news agency Xinhua said the Chinese fleet crossing was in line with international law, citing a spokesman for PLA's South Zone Command.

An international arbitration exhibition ruled in 2016 that China's claims based on its historical maps have no international legal basis, but Beijing does not recognise that decision.