China has held sea and air combat drills at disputed Scarborough Shoal, an uninhabited area of reefs and rocks it had seized from the Philippines in the South China Sea.

China declared its maritime baselines around Scarborough Shoal after the Philippines passed laws defining its maritime zones and sea lanes last week.

China on Sunday said it delimited the baselines of the territorial sea adjacent to Scarborough Shoal — which it calls Huangyan Dao — saying it’s a “natural step” to lawfully strengthen marine management. In response, Manila’s National Maritime ...

The Philippines has explicitly labeled China's baseline declarations around Scarborough Shoal (Bajo de Masinloc) as illegal under international law — a direct pushback against Beijing after it aired its fury over Manila's new maritime zones law.

The move was a direct response to the Philippines’ enactment of two new laws aimed at strengthening the country’s own maritime claims.

The Philippines has protested China’s baselines around the disputed Scarborough Shoal, as tensions between the two nations build up anew over their competing claims in the South China Sea.