China's Shandong aircraft carrier has conducted exercises in the South China Sea – military drills which the People's Liberation Army (PLA) said will be regularly held in the disputed regional waters. “We hope the outside world can view (the exercise) objectively and rationally. The PLA Navy will continue to organize similar exercises according to the plan regularly in the future,” PLA Navy spokesman Sr. Capt. Gao Xiucheng said in a statement published by state-owned media Global Times. This is the first known voyage this year of the Shandong aircraft carrier group.

Pañares, J., & Ramos-Araneta, M. (2021, May 3). China steps up naval drills: In wake of WPS exercises, Duterte crafting ‘3Cs foreign policy’—Roque. Manila Standard, pp. A1, A2.