China puts troops on alert, intensifies patrols in South China Sea
On Wednesday, China placed its military forces on high alert to patrol the waters surrounding the disputed Huangyan Island (Scarborough Shoal) in the South China Sea, according to the Southern Theater Command of the People’s Liberation Army (PLA).
On November 10, China’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs lodged a protest with the Philippines after Manila implemented a maritime law asserting its exclusive right to tap resources in a 370-kilometer (200-nautical-mile) zone off the country’s coast, News.Az reports, citing foreign media.China said the move was in violation of the Declaration on the Conduct of Parties in the South China Sea as it promised to intensify patrol around Huangyan.
For decades, China has been engaged in territorial disputes with several countries over claims to certain islands in the South China Sea, on whose shelf significant hydrocarbon reserves were discovered. Those primarily include the Xisha Archipelago (the Paracel Islands) and the islands of Nansha (Spratly) and Huangyan (the Scarborough Shoal), contested by Brunei, Vietnam, Malaysia and the Philippines.
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