bodyType

customContents

entityId

entityUuid

articlePageQuery

filter

article

articleBaseAdvertisingInfoArticle

articleListArticle

articleSeoArticle

hooksArticleAcknowledgementGateOverlayArticle

hooksTrackPageViewArticle

hooksContentInterestArticle

articleLinkingDataContent

hooksAmpRedirectArticle

articleSchemaContent

liveArticle

advertZone

sentiment

contentLock

topics

types

sections

paywallTypes

createdDate

publishedDate

urlAlias

moreOnThisArticles

sponsorType

commentCount

authorLocations

authors

corrections

displaySlideShow

multimediaEmbed

printHeadline

seriesContainer

articleSpeeches

socialHeadline

headline

images

flag

firstTopic

glossary

flattenTypeIds

image

relatedLinks

relatedNewsletters

__typename

sponsor

pdfFiles

seriesReverseOrder

series

disableOffPlatformContent

published

updatedDate

summary

subHeadline

body

keywords

readingTime

customTimezone

liveContents

Minnie Chan

The PLA Navy has carried out its largest live-fire drill yet in the South China Sea, ahead of a ruling by an international tribunal on a dispute with the Philippines over claims to the strategic waters.
Warships from the north and east fleets joined the south fleet in the drills, the army mouthpiece PLA Daily said on its website.
They focused on “air control operations, sea battles and anti-submarine warfare”, it said.
China and US in silent fight for supremacy beneath waves of South China Sea
The exercise was also significant because it brought together top generals in a joint command scenario. Navy chief General Wu Shengli joined leaders from the powerful Central Military Commission’s Joint Staff Department, Training Management and the South Theatre Command for the for the exercise.

CCTV broadcast images of fighter aircraft and ships firing missiles, helicopters taking off and submarines surfacing. 
One picture posted by PLA Daily showed a 054A-type destroyer launching a HQ-9 missile.
Previous satellite images carried by Fox News showed China has deployed eight HQ-9 systems on Woody Island, with four ready for operation, according to US Fox News.
“The drill focused on air control operations, sea battles and anti-submarine warfare,” said the Daily, whose article was also reposted on the defence ministry website.
The Daily insisted the exercises were “routine” and unrelated to the ruling.
But Antony Wong Dong, a Macau-based military observer, said the prominence of the south fleet was noteworthy.
“The PLA has always said its drills do not target a third party. But warships from the South Sea Fleet are playing key roles in the drills, and commanders on-site are all top leaders in the army, hinting that the US Navy was the imagined target,” Wong said.

The Permanent Court of Arbitration in The Hague is expected to deliver its ruling on Tuesday. Manila lodged a case in 2013, challenging China’s claims to much of the strategic waterway. It argues Beijing is violation of the UN Convention on the Law of the Sea, to which both countries are signatories.
Beijing has boycotted the proceedings, saying the court has no jurisdiction over the issue and that it will ignore the ruling.
The Philippines said on Friday it was willing to share natural resources with Beijing in the contested seas even if it wins the legal challenge.
Foreign Secretary Perfecto Yasay said President Rodrigo Duterte’s administration hoped to quickly begin direct talks with China after the verdict.
He said the negotiations could cover jointly exploiting natural gas reserves and fishing grounds within the Philippines’ exclusive economic zone.


South China Sea: Beijing seeks ‘fair and just maritime order’

Rubio and Hegseth discuss Indo-Pacific security with Australian counterparts in Washington

China sends seasoned ‘America hand’ to serve as top envoy to Philippines

Deterring Taiwan conflict a ‘priority’: US national security report

South China Sea

PLA warships carry out biggest live-fire drills yet in South China Sea

A Chinese navy frigate launches a missile during a military exercise near the Paracel Islands on Friday. Photo: Xinhua

In this Friday, July 8, 2016 photo released by Xinhua News Agency, a Chinese missile frigate launches an air-defense missile during a military exercise in the waters near south China's Hainan Island and Paracel Islands. They are controlled by Beijing but also claimed by Vietnam and Taiwan. China's navy is holding a week of military drills around the disputed islands ahead of a ruling by an international tribunal in a case filed by the Philippines challenging China's claim to most of the South China Sea. China is boycotting the case before The Hague-based court and says it will not accept the verdict. (Zha Chunming/Xinhua via AP)

General Wu Shengli, commander of the PLA Navy, carrying out drills in South China Sea, in photo from CCTV on July 9, 2015

Cool heads must prevail in the South China Sea territorial dispute

Governments involved in the territorial disputes still need to strive for a solution acceptable to all sides. Photo: AFP

How we got to this stage in the South China Sea: understanding the source of tension

US intervention was key in escalating tensions in the fiercely contested region, say former Chinese diplomat Fu Ying and Wu Shicun, president of the National Institute of the South China Sea Studies

In this photo taken on June 15, 2016 a vendor stands behind a map of China including an insert with red dotted lines showing China's claimed territory in the South China Sea, in Beijing. Chinese pressure was blamed June 16 for a stunning diplomatic U-turn by Southeast Asian Nations that saw them retract a statement sounding alarm over Beijing's island building in the South China Sea. China claims nearly all of the South China Sea -- a vast tract of water through which a huge chunk of global shipping passes. The Philippines, Taiwan, Brunei, Malaysia and Vietnam have competing claims to parts of the sea, which is believed to harbour significant oil and gas deposits. / AFP PHOTO / GREG BAKER

This photo taken on June 18, 2016 and released June 19, 2016 by the US Navy shows a flight formation of Boeing F/A-18E and F Super Hornets from Carrier Air Wing (CVW) 5 and 9 above the Nimitz-class aircraft carrier USS John C. Stennis (CVN-74) in the Philippine Sea. Two US aircraft carriers have started exercises in the Philippine Sea, defence officials said June 19, as Washington's close ally Manila faces growing pressure from Beijing in the South China Sea. / AFP PHOTO / US NAVY / STEVE SMITH / RESTRICTED TO EDITORIAL USE - MANDATORY CREDIT "AFP PHOTO / US NAVY / STEVE SMITH" - NO MARKETING NO ADVERTISING CAMPAIGNS - DISTRIBUTED AS A SERVICE TO CLIENTS

Soldiers of China's People's Liberation Army (PLA) Navy patrol at Woody Island, in the Paracel Archipelago, which is known in China as the Xisha Islands, January 29, 2016. The words on the rock read, "Xisha Old Dragon". Old Dragon is the local name of a pile of rocks near Woody Island. REUTERS/Stringer/File Photo ATTENTION EDITORS - THIS PICTURE WAS PROVIDED BY A THIRD PARTY. THIS PICTURE IS DISTRIBUTED EXACTLY AS RECEIVED BY REUTERS, AS A SERVICE TO CLIENTS. CHINA OUT. NO COMMERCIAL OR EDITORIAL SALES IN CHINA. FROM THE FILES PACKAGE - SEARCH "SOUTH CHINA SEA FILES" FOR ALL IMAGES

Chinese dredging vessels are purportedly seen in the waters around Mischief Reef in the disputed Spratly Islands in the South China Sea in this still image from video taken by a P-8A Poseidon surveillance aircraft provided by the United States Navy May 21, 2015. U.S. Navy/Handout via Reuters/File Photo ATTENTION EDITORS - THIS PICTURE WAS PROVIDED BY A THIRD PARTY. REUTERS IS UNABLE TO INDEPENDENTLY VERIFY THE AUTHENTICITY, CONTENT, LOCATION OR DATE OF THIS IMAGE. THIS PICTURE IS DISTRIBUTED EXACTLY AS RECEIVED BY REUTERS, AS A SERVICE TO CLIENTS. EDITORIAL USE ONLY. NOT FOR SALE FOR MARKETING OR ADVERTISING CAMPAIGNS FROM THE FILES PACKAGE - SEARCH "SOUTH CHINA SEA FILES" FOR ALL IMAGES

A Chinese Coast Guard vessel manoeuvres to block a Philippine government supply ship with members of the media aboard at the disputed Second Thomas Shoal, part of the Spratly Islands, in the South China Sea March 29, 2014. REUTERS/Erik De Castro/File Photo FROM THE FILES PACKAGE - SEARCH "SOUTH CHINA SEA FILES" FOR ALL IMAGES

The South China Sea (centre) as portrayed on a globe for sale at a bookstore in Beijing. Photo: AFP

China and US in silent fight for supremacy beneath waves of South China Sea

The PLA Navy has dramatically extended the reach of its submarines in the contested waters, raising the risk to US warships, experts say

The crew disembarks after taking positions on board for the commissioning of the U.S. Navy attack submarine USS North Dakota (SSN 784) Saturday, Oct. 25, 2014 at the Navy submarine base in Groton, Conn. USS North Dakota is a $2.6 billion attack submarine is capable of launching Tomahawk cruise missiles, delivering special forces and carrying out surveillance over land and sea. (AP Photo/The Day, Sean D. Elliot) MANDATORY CREDIT

File photo taken in February 2012 shows the U.S. guided-missile destroyer Lassen. The U.S. Navy plans to send the ship within 12 nautical miles (around 22 kilometers) of islands artificially created by China in the South China Sea on Oct. 27, 2015, local time, according to Reuters news service. (Kyodo) ==Kyodo

(160605) -- SINGAPORE, June 5, 2016 (Xinhua) -- Admiral Sun Jianguo, deputy chief of the Joint Staff Department of China's Central Military Commission, delivers a speech at the Shangri-La Dialogue in Singapore, June 5, 2016. (Xinhua/Then Chih Wey) (cyc)

Undated file photo of an EP-3E Aries II, assigned to Fleet Air Reconnaissance Squadron One (VQ1). A U.S. Navy EP-3 assigned to VQ1, similiar to this one and currently operating out of Kadena Air Force Base, Okinawa, Japan, was involved in a midair collision with fighter aircraft from the Republic of China April 1, 2001. China accused the U.S. spy plane of ramming its fighter in mid-air Sunday in a military incident that threatened to blow up into a political storm. The fighter plane crashed after the collision over the South China Sea and rescuers were searching for the pilot, China said. The U.S. aircraft made an emergency landing on China's southern island of Hainan without permission. U.S. officials immediately scrambled to try to secure the release of the 24 crew, who were all reported safe, along with the plane and its sensitive surveillance equipment. REUTERS/U.S. Navy-Handout

Chinese sailors salute on top of a submarine during the fleet review at a China-Russia joint naval exercise in the Yellow Sea in April 2012. Photo: Reuters

News

China

Diplomacy

Exercises in the South China Sea draw South, North and East Sea fleets, and come ahead of an international ruling on Beijing’s claims in the waters


PLA warships carry out biggest live-fire drills yet in South China Sea

.css-1c6uqr6{color:inherit;font-weight:inherit;font-size:inherit;font-family:inherit;line-height:inherit;overflow-wrap:break-word;}Exercises in the South China Sea draw South, North and East Sea fleets, and come ahead of an international ruling on Beijing’s claims in the waters

Exercises in the South China Sea draw South, North and East Sea fleets, and come ahead of an international ruling on Beijing’s claims in the waters