China and the Philippines have each unfurled their national flags on tiny sandbars in the South China Sea, staking competing sovereignty claims in strategic waters seen as a potential flashpoint for global conflict.
The rival photo opportunities unfolded on Sandy Cay, a string of three uninhabited sandbars which lie near a Philippine military outpost in the disputed Spratly Islands.
The release of the images comes as US and Philippine forces hold their largest-ever annual joint military drills in nearby waters – and just weeks after US Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth vowed to enhance America’s military alliance with the Philippines to “reestablish deterrence” to counter “China’s aggression” in the region – during his first trip to Asia.
Bracketed by China and several Southeast Asian nations, parts of the vital South China Sea are claimed by multiple governments, but Beijing has asserted ownership over almost all of the waterway, in defiance of an international court ruling.
Over the past two decades, China has occupied a number of obscure reefs and atolls far from its shoreline across the South China Sea, building up military installations, including runways and ports.
The public relations wrestling match over Sandy Cay risks further stoking long-running tensions between the Philippines and China. It also poses a key test to the Trump administration on how it will respond, especially as key cabinet officials have repeatedly emphasized the need for the US to focus its attention and resources on countering China’s ambitions in the Indo-Pacific region.
Competing claims
The latest maritime dispute surfaced last week, when China’s state-controlled media claimed that China Coast Guard “implemented maritime control” and “exercised sovereign jurisdiction” over Tiexian Reef – the Chinese name for Sandy Cay – in mid-April.
A photo aired on China’s state broadcaster Saturday showed four Chinese officers in black uniforms walking along the white sandbar as a fifth officer held an inflatable boat by the water. Another photo showed four officers holding up a Chinese flag in what the broadcaster described as “a show of sovereignty.”
“China Coast Guard officers landed on Tiexian Reef to conduct patrols and recorded video evidence of the illegal activities carried out by the Philippine side,” said the state broadcaster CCTV. It added that the officers also cleaned up leftover plastic bottles, wooden sticks and other debris on the reef.
The Philippines was quick to unleash its own publicity move in response, sending teams to multiple sandbars.
On Sunday, a spokesperson for the Philippines Coast Guard said the country’s navy, coast guard and police deployed four teams in rubber boats to Pag-asa Cay 1, Cay 2 and Cay 3 – names the Philippines uses to refer to Sandy Cay.
During the inter-agency operation, the officers “observed the illegal presence” of a nearby China Coast Guard vessel and seven Chinese maritime militia vessels.
An image posted by Philippines Coast Guard spokesperson, Jay Tarriela, on X showed five officers holding the national flag on a white sandbar.
In a statement late on Sunday night, a spokesperson for the China Coast Guard said six personnel from the Philippines had “illegally landed” on the Tiexian Reef despite “warnings and dissuasion” from the Chinese side.
“China Coast Guard law enforcement officers then boarded the reef to verify and deal with the situation in accordance with the law,” spokesperson Liu Dejun said, urging the Philippines to “immediately stop its infringement.”
At a press conference Monday, Tarriela said each team had brought with them a Philippine flag to pose for photos on the sandbars on early Sunday morning.
“The other objective of our operation is to check whether the Chinese government installed different infrastructure or monitoring devices or whatsoever,” Tarriela told reporters.
“(From) the photos and videos we have already, we can totally debunk the lie and disinformation the People’s Republic of China that they have already occupied the Pag-asa cays.”
Military alliance
Confrontations between China and the Philippines in the contested waters have become increasingly fraught in recent years, fueling fears of a global conflict that could drag in the US, a mutual defense ally of Manila.
Sandy Cay lie near Thitu Island, known as Pag-asa Island by Manila and the site of a Philippines military facility. In 2023, Manila opened a coast guard monitoring base there to counter what it called Chinese aggression in the vital waterway.
Under the Biden administration, US officials repeatedly assured the Philippine that the US would come to its defense if attacked in the South China Sea.
US President Donald Trump is a more mercurial figure who has long viewed historical US agreements through a more mercantile lens and has called for allies to pay more for protection.
But Trump’s cabinet contains vocal China hawks, notably Hegseth and Secretary of State Marco Rubio, who have both spoken publicly on needing to push back against China’s growing assertiveness in the South China Sea.
On April 21, the US and the Philippines kicked off their annual Balikatan – meaning “shoulder to shoulder” – military exercises, which are expected to run for three weeks and have grown in scale each year.
This year, the US military has deployed an anti-ship missile launcher for the first time on the northern tip of the Philippine archipelago, just across the strait from Taiwan, a self-governing democracy Beijing has vowed to take by force if necessary.
The Philippines also hosted Japanese forces as full-fledged participants for the first time as party of the multinational military drills, a sign of strengthening security cooperation between Manila and Tokyo.