BEIJING: China’s military said on Saturday it monitored and tracked a joint patrol organized by the Philippines in the disputed South China Sea on October 30 and October 31.
Washington and Manila have beefed up military cooperation, unveiling plans on Friday to form a new joint task force for areas including the South China Sea, a conduit for more than $3 trillion of annual ship-borne commerce.
Tian Junli, a spokesperson of the Southern Theater Command of the Chinese People’s Liberation Army, said the patrol, with unnamed partners, “seriously undermined regional peace and stability.”
He called the Philippines “a troublemaker” in the region.
“The theater command forces remain on high alert and will resolutely safeguard national territorial sovereignty and maritime rights and interests,” Tian added in a statement.
The Philippine embassy in Beijing did not immediately respond to an emailed request for comment.
The armed forces of Australia, New Zealand, the Philippines and the United States held a drill in the South China Sea on October 30 and 31.
The US 7th Fleet said the exercise aimed to demonstrate “a collective commitment to strengthen regional and international cooperation in support of a free and open Indo-Pacific.”
China claims almost the entire South China Sea, including parts claimed by Brunei, Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines and Vietnam.
In 2016 the Permanent Court of Arbitration in the Hague ruled that China’s claims were not supported by international law, a decision Beijing rejects.
China’s military says it tracked Philippine patrol in South China Sea
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China’s military says it tracked Philippine patrol in South China Sea
- Washington and Manila have beefed up military cooperation, unveiling plans on Friday to form a new joint task force
Lithuania to declare ‘emergency situation’ over Belarus balloons: PM
- “We are currently preparing the legal basis and documents,” Ruginiene told reporters
- “We do not rule out going further,” Ruginiene added. Declaring a state of emergency is a possible stronger step
VILNIUS: Lithuania’s Prime Minister announced on Friday that the country will declare a national “emergency situation” over the influx of smuggler’s balloons launched from Belarus.
“We are currently preparing the legal basis and documents,” Prime Minister Inga Ruginiene told reporters, calling the emergency declaration “the best course of action at this time.”
The ‘emergency situation’ enables the government and local authorities to dedicate extra resources to combatting the balloons.
“We do not rule out going further,” Ruginiene added. Declaring a state of emergency is a possible stronger step.
As a result of balloon incursions, Lithuania’s two largest airports, in Vilnius and Kaunas, have on several occasions been forced to halt operations.
Lithuanian officials claim that the balloons, which fly up to 10 kilometers (six miles) high, are deliberately being launched into the airport’s flight paths, and constitute an attack on its civil aviation.
Though the balloons, which contain cigarettes, have long been used by smugglers, they have only in the last few months prompted airport closures.
The Baltic state, a member of NATO and the European Union, has long accused Belarus, a close ally of Putin’s Russia, of organizing “hybrid warfare.”
The activity, which amplified in October, caused Lithuania to close its two border crossings with Belarus at the end of the month.
Belarus then prevented Lithuanian trucks from driving on its roads and barred them from leaving the country without first paying a fee, which Vilnius decried as “being held hostage” by Belarus.
Thousands of Lithuanian lorries remain stuck in Belarus, with Minsk calling for consultations with the Lithuanian foreign ministry.
Lithuania has instead called for harsher sanctions on Belarus.
