China to hold military exercises in South China Sea amid tensions

The People's Liberation Army (PLA) will hold military exercises in the South China Sea off China's Guangdong province from August 24-29, state-run Global Times reported on Sunday citing the local maritime safety administration.

The upcoming military exercises come at a time when tensions have aggravated in the South China Sea, where China lays its territorial claims in the region and is in a dispute with several countries including Vietnam and the Philippines.

During US Health Secretary Alex Azar's historic visit to Taiwan earlier this month, China deployed fighter jets that briefly crossed the midline of the Taiwan Strait, South China Morning Post reported citing Taiwan's Defence Ministry.

The ministry said it had tracked the PLA fighters with its land-based anti-aircraft missiles and had "strongly driven them out".

Recently, Malaysia has rejected Beijing's expansive maritime claims in the South China Sea. "Malaysia opposes China's claim that they have historic rights over those waters," Malaysian Foreign Minister Hishammuddin Hussein told the Parliament in a rare public rebuke of its largest trading partner.

"The Malaysian government also considers China's claims over maritime features in the South China Sea to have no basis whatsoever under international law," he added.

The US has hit out at China and urged nations to push back against the Asian country, saying that Beijing is bullying its neighbours and militarise features in the South China Sea, rather than helping the world during the COVID-19 pandemic.