Beijing drills water cannons and drones near disputed South China Sea shoals

China’s coastguard has carried out an exercise featuring water cannons and drones near two disputed reefs at the centre of its simmering South China Sea contention with the Philippines to prepare for “foreign infringement”, according to state media.

A China Coast Guard flotilla “recently” conducted “comprehensive maritime law-enforcement training” in the waters around Second Thomas Shoal and Sabina Shoal, according to state broadcaster CCTV, which did not specify dates.

The official television network stated that the drill had focused on foreign vessels “illegally” entering the waters around the two shoals, while covering surveillance, tracking, maritime traffic control and tactical manoeuvres by small boats.

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It also included practising water cannon use, drone operations and optoelectronic evidence collection – a technique that uses optical and electronic sensors to detect and record evidence that may not be visible to the naked eye – according to the report.

“We have further improved our preparedness to respond to foreign infringement around Renai Jiao and Xianbin Jiao through this training,” Lin Weicong, a Chinese coastguard officer, told the CCTV programme, citing China’s names for Second Thomas Shoal and Sabina Shoal respectively.

The two features are known as Ayungin Shoal and Escoda Shoal in the Philippines.

Tensions between the South China Sea neighbours have continued to escalate on diplomatic and security fronts during recent weeks.

Chinese authorities have stepped up public criticism of Philippine Defence Secretary Gilberto Teodoro after placing him on a sanctions list in June, largely over his positions on the South China Sea, Taiwan and economic relations.

Meanwhile, recent remarks by China’s top envoy to the Philippines, Jing Quan, that Beijing could “easily win” a war between the two countries have triggered a strong backlash in the Southeast Asian nation.

Second Thomas Shoal has been one of the main flashpoints in the increasingly strained ties between the two rival South China Sea claimants over the past three years.

On October 23, Teodoro said any attempt by China to forcibly tow away the grounded BRP Sierra Madre would constitute an “act of war” against the Philippines.

Chinese defence ministry spokesman Zhang Xiaogang responded at a press conference on Thursday, urging Manila to “recognise reality” and refrain from challenging Beijing’s “resolve to defend its territorial sovereignty and maritime rights and interests”.

“If [the Philippine side] repeatedly breaks its word and provokes China, allowing individual clowns to act recklessly, it will inevitably push China-Philippines relations into a dangerous situation,” he said.

Disputes over Sabina Shoal have also intensified since 2023. A US naval vessel entered waters around the reef last week after a clash between Chinese and Philippine vessels there in late September, prompting Beijing to react.

The Chinese law-enforcement ship involved in the incident last month, the Sanzhouao, took part in the recent coastguard exercise reported by CCTV.

The drill simulated a foreign fishing vessel entering the waters of Second Thomas and Sabina shoals for “illegal fishing”, while Chinese coastguard officers rehearsed boarding the dummy intruder for inspection before confiscating its fishing gear and catch and then ordering it to leave.

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Scarborough Shoal, which is known as Huangyan Island in China and Panatag Shoal in the Philippines, has been another theatre of bilateral tension.

The Chinese military on Friday said it had carried out “readiness patrols in the territorial sea and airspace” of the triangular coral reef formation surrounding a lagoon that day.

“This is a necessary countermeasure in response to the Philippines’ rights-violation and provocative acts,” the People’s Liberation Army’s Southern Theatre Command said in a statement.