China's coast guard has conducted new patrols around the contested Scarborough Shoal in the South China Sea. The activity comes a day after Beijing carried out joint air and sea drills in the same area as tensions with the Philippines show no signs of easing.

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