Recently, Chinese military drones were tracked flying along Vietnam’s coastline twice within a week, which adds to the rising tensions in the South China Sea amid ongoing territorial disputes.
This drone activity coincides with Vietnam’s upcoming joint coast guard training exercises with the Philippines, set to start on Friday. The drills aim to bolster maritime cooperation between the two nations.
According to Duan Dang, a maritime security expert in Vietnam, the drones spotted were WZ-10s. He provided flight maps showing the drones took off from Hainan Island, flying south on both Wednesday and Friday.
The WZ-10 drone, designed for high-altitude, long missions, boasts semi-stealth capabilities to evade radar detection. Introduced at China’s Zhuhai Airshow, it can reach speeds of 385 mph and has an operational endurance of up to 20 hours.
As reported by Reuters and the research group South China Sea Chronicle Initiative, this marks the first time Chinese military flight operations of this kind have been publicly tracked.
On Wednesday, following the previous drone flights, the WZ-10 launched from the Ledong air base on Hainan Island. Open-source satellite images also revealed the presence of a WZ-7 drone at the same air base, which has previously operated in the area.
In recent months, China has deployed both manned and unmanned military aircraft to contested regions. Notably, on May 27, the Japanese Defense Ministry reported seeing a WL-10 (the informal name for the WZ-10) flying over the East China Sea for the first time.
Chinese state media
Furthermore, Chinese drones have been spotted near the Sea of Japan and Taiwan, an island that China considers a breakaway province. For the first time, both Japanese and Taiwanese military officials noted that two Chinese drones circumnavigated Taiwan on Saturday.
The ongoing maritime disputes between China and the Philippines—a U.S. security ally—remain unresolved, with China asserting significant control in the area. The region is heavily monitored by the Chinese navy, coast guard, and maritime militia, showcasing their naval strength and sovereignty claims.
There have been multiple confrontations between vessels from both countries over the Second Thomas Shoal, a submerged reef in the Spratly Islands that the Philippines controls but which China contests. Recently, the two nations reached an “understanding” regarding the resupply of the reef by Manila.