Philippines, US test air defences hours after China seizes reef claimed by Manila


US soldiers moving around their camp grounds before the start of a Philippines-US Balikatan joint exercise in Zambales province, the Philippines, on April 27, 2025. - Photo: EPA-EFE

MANILA: Missiles were fired off the coast of the northern Philippines on Sunday (April 27) as US and Filipino forces conducted their first integrated defence drills, hours after China said it had seized control of a reef claimed by Manila.

The Philippines and China have been engaged in months of confrontations over the South China Sea, which Beijing claims nearly in its entirety despite an international ruling that its assertion has no legal basis.

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