MANILA: The Philippine military said on Saturday it strongly condemns "dangerous and provocative actions" by China's air force at a contested shoal in the South China Sea.

It was the first time the Philippines has complained of dangerous actions by Chinese aircraft, as opposed to navy or coast guard vessels, since President Ferdinand Marcos Jr took office in 2022.

Two People's Liberation Army Air Force aircraft executed a dangerous manoeuvre and dropped flares in the path of a NC-212i Philippine air force propeller aircraft conducting a routine maritime patrol over the Scarborough shoal on Thursday morning, the military said in a statement.

It "endangered the lives of our personnel undertaking maritime security operations recently within Philippine maritime zones", said Philippines armed forces chief Romeo Brawner, adding that the Chinese aircraft interfered with lawful flight operations and violated international law on aviation safety.

China's embassy in Manila did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Filipino fishermen frequent the Scarborough Shoal, one of two flashpoints in a longstanding maritime rivalry with China.

Beijing on Wednesday organised a combat patrol near the shoal, which Manila calls Bajo de Masinloc and China seized in 2012 and refers to as Huangyan island.

Beijing claims almost all of the South China Sea, a conduit for more than US$3 trillion of annual shipborne commerce, including parts claimed by the Philippines, Vietnam, Indonesia, Malaysia and Brunei.

China rejects a 2016 ruling by the Permanent Court of Arbitration in the Hague that Beijing's expansive claims had no basis under international law.

The Philippines in May accused Chinese fishermen of destroying the ecological environment in Scarborough with cyanide fishing, harvesting giant clams and other protected marine creatures, as well as scarring coral reefs, which China denied.

 - Reuters