Overview
- China's Southern Theater Command said naval and air units patrolled around Scarborough Shoal on Saturday.
- Beijing described the mission as a combat readiness operation to counter “infringement provocations” by unspecified countries.
- A PLA video showed an H-6K bomber armed with YJ-12 anti-ship missiles and the Type 055 destroyer Xianyang.
- The patrols followed joint United States–Philippines exercises near the shoal earlier in the week, the 11th since November 2023.
- The shoal lies within the Philippines’ exclusive economic zone but is also claimed by China, and the Philippine embassy in Beijing did not immediately comment.