The US and Philippine fighter aircraft conducted a joint patrol and training over the disputed Scarborough Shoal in the South China Sea. Chinese fighter jets had fired flares over this disputed area last year to drive away a Philippine aircraft.
Scarborough Shoal, also known as Bajo de Masinloc or Huangyan Island, is a contentious atoll located within the Exclusive Economic Zone of the Philippines. However, China claims it to be part of its historical territory.
The largest atoll in the South China Sea, Scarborough Shoal has been witnessing large-scale naval drills by China amid the ongoing territorial disputes with the Philippines.
Two US Air Force B-1 bomber aircraft and three Philippine Air Force FA-50 fighter jets joined the patrol and training, which involved practising how to intercept a hostile aircraft, Philippine Air Force spokesperson Maria Consuelo Castillo said.
It was not known if the patrol faced any challenge from Chinese side guarding the shoal.
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"The exercises focused on enhancing operational coordination, improving air domain awareness and reinforcing agile combat employment capabilities between the two air forces,” the Philippine Air Force said.
In August, two Chinese Air Force aircraft flew close then fired flares in the path of a Philippine Air Force plane on routine patrol over the shoal. All those aboard the Philippine Air Force NC-212i turbo-prop transport plane were unharmed.
The Southern Theater Command of the Chinese People's Liberation Army had then said a Philippine Air Force aircraft illegally entered the airspace above the shoal and disrupted training activities by Chinese forces.
Apart from China and the Philippines, Brunei, Malaysia, Vietnam and Taiwan have overlapping territorial claims in the busy sea passage, but hostilities have particularly flared in the past two years between Chinese and Philippine coast guard and navy forces in the Scarborough Shoal and another fiercely contested atoll, the Second Thomas Shoal.
It remains to be seen how China will react to this latest military drill—the first since US President Donald Trump took office again—by the allies.
