China’s military drills do not alter Philippines’ legal claim to Scarborough Reef

FORUM Staff

China’s People’s Liberation Army (PLA) naval and airborne exercises around the contested Scarborough Reef do not change the Philippines’ legal claim to the South China Sea location, the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) said in August 2026.

“Military activities or demonstrations do not alter the legal status of maritime features or the Philippines’ maritime entitlements under international law,” an AFP spokesman told the Philippines News Agency. The declaration came two days after the PLA surged amphibious forces and aircraft bombers for drills near the reef, 120 nautical miles from the Philippines.

China seized Scarborough Reef in 2012 even though it is within the Philippines’ exclusive economic zone (EEZ). China has escalated tensions in the region since then with activities including harassing Philippine patrol boats and fishing vessels, especially in recent years. China also announced in 2025 that it established a “national nature preserve” on 8,700 acres of the contested shoal, a move highly criticized partly because Beijing had caused environmental damage for years, including irreparable harm to 19 square kilometers of coral reef in the South China Sea. China also sent research vessels and installed floating markers near the reef in June, raising concerns in Manila that Beijing planned to build permanent structures.

China claims almost all of the South China Sea, a vital global trade route with rich undersea deposits of gas and oil, despite overlapping claims from the Philippines and other nations. An international tribunal invalidated China’s expansive territorial assertions in 2016 in a case brought by the Philippines. China ignores the ruling and continues its coercion with bullying, gray-zone tactics including harassing, ramming and firing water cannons at government and civilian fishing vessels legally operating within the Philippines EEZ. China Coast Guard patrols at Scarborough Reef also have increased significantly in 2026, the Asia Maritime Transparency Initiative (AMTI) reported in July.

“As Beijing pushes the boundaries of just how much control it can assert over the shoal, Manila and Washington would do well to keep a close eye on Scarborough,” the AMTI said.

The United Sates is seeking to aid Manila’s ability to counter Beijing’s large conventional fleet with one-way attack drones and unmanned surface vessels. The initiative, called the Asymmetric Capabilities Program, aims to transfer armed drones and lethal capabilities to the AFP by 2027, U.S. Naval Institute News reported.

U.S. Adm. Samuel J. Paparo, Commander of U.S. Pacific Command, speaking in Malaysia, said coercive actions by China and other actors are challenging regional stability and warned the U.S. would not allow any nation to dominate the Indo-Pacific, The Associated Press reported. Paparo said some actors used “false claims of legitimacy” to justify intimidation and coercion.

The most recent PLA drills came after the Philippines formally presented its bid to the United Nations to extend its seabed rights in the South China Sea, which Manila refers to as the West Philippine Sea, to include Scarborough Reef.

The Philippines Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA) said the chart depicts the normal baselines of the reef and the outer limits of its territorial sea and contiguous zone in accordance with the U.N. Convention of the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS) and Philippine law. UNCLOS requires coastal states to publicize official charts or geographic coordinates showing the baselines from which their territorial seas are measured.

The DFA said the Philippines “remains firmly committed to the rule of law, the peaceful settlement of disputes and the primacy of UNCLOS as the comprehensive legal framework governing all activities in the oceans and seas.”