BEIJING: China on Wednesday (Aug 7) carried out a combat patrol to test "strike capabilities" near Scarborough Shoal in the South China Sea, a flashpoint area also claimed by the Philippines. Beijing has continued to press its claims to almost the entire South China Sea despite an international tribunal ruling that its assertion has no legal basis. Scarborough Shoal is 240km west of the Philippines' main island of Luzon and nearly 900km from the nearest major Chinese land mass of Hainan. China