MANILA, Philippines—China recently fired flares at Philippine military planes conducting security patrols in the West Philippine Sea.
These were recorded at least five times near Chinese outposts in the West Philippine Sea, according to Lt. Col. Bill Pasia, of the Palawan-based Western Command, at an online forum on Friday (Aug. 20).
Pasia also said that Philippine aircraft received Chinese radio warnings at least 218 times while patrolling the West Philippine Sea.
“As part of China’s assertiveness, while we are patrolling the West Philippine Sea, our ISR team are consistently receiving radio challenges from Chinese navy or reefs during routine flight patrols,” he said.
China, using its fictitious nine-dash line, had laid claim to nearly the entire South China Sea but this had already been rejected by an international court in 2016. Some Southeast Asian countries have overlapping claims in the South China Sea but none as brazenly fraudulent as China’s.