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.

The Philippines' foreign ministry summoned the Chinese ambassador on Wednesday, November 13, to protest against Beijing's establishment of baseline coordinates around the disputed Scarborough Shoal in the South China Sea,

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

The ongoing territorial disputes in the South China Sea, China conducted intensive sea and air combat drills near the contentious Scarborough Shoal on Wednesday. This area—an expanse of reefs and rocks west of the Philippines’ Luzon Island—has been a persistent flashpoint in China-Philippines relations since China seized control of the shoal in 2012.

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.

China gave permission for a civilian ship sent by the Philippines to take supplies to its "illegally" beached warship at the Second Thomas Shoal, the Asian giant's coast guard said on Friday. "It is hoped the Philippines will honour its commitments,