China Coast Guard (CCG) personnel displayed a Chinese flag on Sandy Cay in the South China Sea and declared “sovereign jurisdiction over it, according to Chinese state media.

Sandy Cay, called Pag-asa Cay 2 by the Philippine government and Tiexian Jiao by China, is a disputed low bank or reef of coral, rock, and sand located in the Spratly Islands near Pag-asa (Thitu) Island in the West Philippine Sea (WPS).

According to a report by the Chinese tabloid Global Times, the CCG personnel landed on the disputed reef “in mid-April” and "enforced maritime management." 

It said the Chinese personnel also conducted an on-reef inspection and cleaned up plastic bottles, wooden sticks, and other debris scattered across the reef flat.

The Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) said the National Task Force for West Philippine Sea (NTF-WPS) will issue a statement on the matter.

Pag-asa Island is the seat of power of the municipality of Kalayaan in Palawan. 

AFP personnel are stationed in Pag-asa Island, the biggest of the nine outposts occupied by the Philippines in the Spraty Islands or Kalayaan Island Group, to guard it and the small community of Filipino inhabitants on it.

The Manila Bulletin sought the reaction of the local government of Kalayaan and will publish its side once it responds.

In January this year, the Philippine Coast Guard (PCG) accused the CCG and Chinese People’s Liberation Army-Navy (PLA-N) of harassing Bureau of Fisheries and Aquatic Resources (BFAR) vessels en route to Sandy Cay for a marine scientific survey and sand sampling.

The survey was done after the AFP’s Western Command bared in 2023 that Sandy Cay had been dumped with dead and crushed corals after being frequented by Chinese vessels, raising suspicion that reclamation works were to start.

Several marine surveys have since been conducted by the PCG with experts from the University of the Philippines to assess the state of Sandy Cay and attempt to revive its already degraded state.