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China’s mass to declare sovereignty over a controversial reef in the South China Sea has caused a new stay with the Philippines, raising tensions between the two rivals in the wake of nearby US military-military exercises.
The Philippines sent the Navy, coastal and maritime police officers to Sandy Cay and two neighboring sandbanks on Sunday to “support the country’s sovereignty, sovereign rights and jurisdiction” and displayed the national flag there, according to a statement published in X.
The move came a day after China said it had “enforced the maritime control and exercised sovereign jurisdiction” on the reef showing its flag there – the first official statement of sovereignty in or near a land feature in the controversial waters in at least a decade.
The line on Sandy Cay comes while the Philippine and American troops will begin coastal protection and confiscation exercises on the territory of the Philippines closer to Sprratlys on Monday.
Although only one sand bank measuring just over 200 mm, Sandy Cay has strategic value because its categorization as a rock can allow the nation to control it to seek a sea of territory around it. That 12-nautical mile radius will overlap with the island of Thitu, the most important military foundation of the Philippines in the area.
The White House said on Saturday that China’s reports caught Sandy Cay were “deeply disturbing if they are true.” James Hewitt, spokesman for the National Security Council, said: “Actions like these threaten regional stability and violate international law.”
China claims that the South China Sea almost entirely, but the Permanent Court of Arbitration in The Hague in 2016 ruled that it was in violation of international law. The Philippines, Vietnam, Taiwan, Malaysia and Brunei all claim a part of the strategic sea and some underwater islands and rocks in it.
But Beijing has more often clashed with the Philippines since Manila resumed to claim her maritime rights after President Ferdinand Marcos JR took office in June 2022.
Beijing transcends all rivals because it has the largest guards in the world and the marine militia and has built military bases with rockets, radar and air force assets in a number of artificial islands in the area.
Sandy Cay is one of the four rocks where Manila has suspected in China planning land advertising works, followed by further militarization.
China’s Coast Guards said on Sunday that her law enforcement officers had landed at Sandy Cay on Sunday to investigate and “treated” what he called “illegal” acts of Philippine officials.
Neither party reported a direct commitment. The footage published by the Coast Guard of the Philippines did not show Chinese presence in the reef. But according to the Coast Guard’s statement of the Philippines and data on the tracking of revised ships by the Financial Times, a Chinese coastal guard and some Chinese maritime militia boats continue to retire.
