‘China seizes Sandy Cay’

BEIJING – The Chinese coast guard (CCG) has seized control of a disputed reef near a major Philippine military outpost in the South China Sea, according to Beijing’s state media, adding to longstanding territorial tensions with Manila.

Beijing claims sovereignty over almost all of the South China Sea, and has waved away competing assertions from other regional countries, as well as an international ruling that its position has no legal basis.

China and the Philippines have engaged in months of confrontations in the contested waters, and Manila is currently taking part in sweeping joint military drills with the United States that Beijing has slammed as destabilizing.

According to the state-run Global Times, the CCG landed in Sandy Cay, which Beijing calls Tiexian Jiao, on April 26 to enforce maritime management and exercise sovereign jurisdiction.

China grabbed the reef during the joint Balikatan military exercises between the Philippines and the US.

The tiny sandbank, part of the Spratly Islands, lies near Pag-asa Island and the site of a Philippine military facility.

State broadcaster CCTV said the CCG landed on Sandy Cay to “exercise sovereignty and jurisdiction” over the reef, carry out an “inspection” and “collect video evidence regarding the illegal activities of the Philippine side.”

The broadcaster published a photograph of five black-clad people standing on the uninhabited reef as a dark inflatable boat bobbed in the nearby water.

Another shot showed four CCG officials posing with the Chinese flag on the reef’s white surface, in what CCTV described as a “vow of sovereignty.”

The group also “cleaned up leftover plastic bottles, wooden sticks and other debris and garbage on the reef,” the broadcaster said.

The Financial Times reported an unnamed Philippine maritime official as saying the CCG had left after unfurling the flag.

The official said China’s declaration of sovereignty indicated Beijing could “increase their harassment against us at Pag-asa.”

The White House said the report about China seizing Sandy Cay were “deeply concerning if true.”

“Actions like these threaten regional stability and violate international law,” said James Hewitt, National Security Council spokesperson. “We are consulting closely with our own partners and remain committed to a free and open Indo-Pacific.”

There do not appear to be any signs that China has permanently occupied the reef or has built a structure on it.

In recent months, Beijing and Manila have blamed each other for causing what they describe as the ecological degradation of several disputed landforms in the South China Sea.

China’s state news agency Xinhua on Friday cited a report from the natural resources ministry that it said “debunked” Manila’s allegations that Beijing’s land reclamation projects had harmed the local environment.

Philippine forces are present on Pag-asa Island, and Manila inaugurated a coast guard monitoring base there in 2023 in an effort to counter what it describes as Chinese aggression.

On Monday, the Philippine and US militaries launched this year’s “Balikatan,” which is three weeks of annual joint exercises that will include an integrated air and missile defense simulation for the first time.

US Marine Corps Lieutenant General James Glynn said at the opening ceremony in Manila that the two sides would “demonstrate not just our will to uphold our mutual defense treaty in existence since 1951, but our matchless capability to do so.”

“Nothing builds bonds more quickly than shared adversity,” Glynn said, without specifying a common threat.

Beijing said the maneuvers “undermine regional strategic stability” and accused Manila of “collusion with countries outside the region.”