evidence: China’s PLA launches Scarborough Shoal drills as US, Philippine forces train together [...] The Southern Theatre of the People’s Liberation Army (PLA), which is responsible for military operations in the South China Sea, said that it had organised routine exercises and training activities around Huangyan Island, the Chinese name for the Beijing-controlled Scarborough Shoal. [...] "Some external countries are meddling in the South China Sea and creating regional instability … The theatre forces remain highly vigilant, and resolutely defend national sovereignty, security, and maritime rights and interests," the post said, without explicitly referring to the Philippines or other regional US allies.