China May Use Drills To Push Its Claims In South China Sea Amid Ukraine Crisis: Experts

China's military drills in the South China Sea, which were announced early this month, could be used to push its claims in the waterway, experts said.

This comes as the world focus continues to be on Russia's invasion of Ukraine, which will soon enter its third week.

Collin Koh Swee Lea, a research fellow at Singapore's S. Rajaratnam School of International Studies, told VnExpress International the drills were part of the routine set of exercises conducted with greater intensity in recent years.

The drills followed after China's President Xi Jinping strongly urged the People’s Liberation Army to undertake combat readiness in early 2021.

"It also appears to coincide with the announcement on defense spending," Lea said.

Another expert said Beijing could use this drill to push its claim in the South China Sea as the international community continued to focus on the Russia-Ukraine conflict, ANI News reported.

"This was what China did in 2020 when many countries were focused on dealing with COVID. It undertook many activities to assert its claims in the South China Sea,” Hoang Viet, a lecturer at the Ho Chi Minh City of Law, Vietnam, said.

China announced on March 5 a 7.1 percent increase in defense spending in 2022 to$229 billion.

The country began military drills in the South China Sea in an area between its southern province of Hainan and Vietnam, warning shipping to stay away.

Peter Layton, visiting fellow at the Griffith Asia Institute in Australia, said the drill was a continuation of China's long-term plan of gradually taking over control of the seas within the nine-dash line, which has been roundly rejected by the international community. China’s Hainan Maritime Safety Administration had issued a warning, unilaterally banning vessels from entering an area that overlaps with Vietnam’s exclusive economic zone (EEZ) as the drills continue until March 15.

Beijing claims a large part of the disputed waterway, on which major shipping lanes lie. It has also built artificial islands and airfields on some of its reefs and islets. China's activities in the South China Sea have raised concern in the region and in the United States.