China has held sea and air combat drills at disputed Scarborough Shoal, an uninhabited area of reefs and rocks it had seized from the Philippines in the South China Sea.

China on Sunday said it delimited the baselines of the territorial sea adjacent to Scarborough Shoal — which it calls Huangyan Dao — saying it’s a “natural step” to lawfully strengthen marine management. In response, Manila’s National Maritime ...

The Philippines' foreign ministry summoned the Chinese ambassador on Wednesday, November 13, to protest against Beijing's establishment of baseline coordinates around the disputed Scarborough Shoal in the South China Sea,

The ongoing territorial disputes in the South China Sea, China conducted intensive sea and air combat drills near the contentious Scarborough Shoal on Wednesday. This area—an expanse of reefs and rocks west of the Philippines’ Luzon Island—has been a persistent flashpoint in China-Philippines relations since China seized control of the shoal in 2012.

The move was a direct response to the Philippines’ enactment of two new laws aimed at strengthening the country’s own maritime claims.

CANBERRA >> China is stepping up pressure on the Philippines to concede its sovereign rights in the South China Sea, Manila’s Defense Secretary Gilberto Teodoro said on Tuesday after meeting his Australian counterpart in Canberra.