China and the Philippines have had confrontations over Sandy Cay, which is called Pag-asa Cays by Filipinos.

The back and forth over Sandy Cay is the latest flare-up in a long-running dispute over territory in the hotly contested South China Sea, which China claims almost in its entirety.

The Philippines claims that Sandy Cay falls within the Philippines' Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ), while China lays claim to the maritime feature, calling it Tiexian Jiao.

The permanent occupation of Sandy Cay by either the Philippines or China could have implications for both countries’ claims to more important South China Sea features.

The Sandy Cay reef lies near Thitu Island, or Pag-asa, where the Philippines stations troops and maintains a coast guard monitoring base.

Sandy Cay is close to Thitu Island, the largest and most strategically important of the nine features the Philippines occupies in the Spratly archipelago, where Malaysia, Vietnam, Taiwan and China ...

The public relations wrestling match over Sandy Cay risks further stoking long-running tensions between the Philippines and China.

China and the Philippines have clashed over Sandy Cay in the South China Sea as the two countries strengthen efforts to assert sovereignty over the disputed reef. ..

China-Philippines Tensions: Dispute over Sandy Cay reef near Thitu Island, or Pag-asa, escalates as both countries assert territorial claims in South China Sea.