Beijing deployed its advanced WZ-7 high-altitude reconnaissance drone in the South China Sea for the first time during drills near the disputed Scarborough Shoal at the weekend.
The People’s Liberation Army’s Southern Theatre Command announced on Sunday that it had conducted joint air and naval exercises in the waters and airspace around the shoal earlier in the day.
Scarborough Shoal – a coral atoll known as Huangyan Island in China and Panatag Shoal in the Philippines – has emerged as a major flashpoint between the rival claimants in recent years.
Chinese state broadcaster CCTV reported on Sunday that the WZ-7 long-range reconnaissance drone took part in the exercises and operated alongside various types of fighter aircraft taking off from multiple airfields.