Chinese Coast Guard Forces Land on Sandy Cay, Escalating Tensions With the Philippines

China is stepping up its campaign to dominate key territory in the South China Sea. On April 24, the Global Times, a Chinese Communist Party-owned media outlet, reported that the China Coast Guard (CCG) had temporarily deployed on Sandy Cay, an unoccupied reef located two miles from the Philippines’ largest South China Sea outpost. Two days after this announcement, the Philippines deployed coast guard personnel to Sandy Cay and confronted several Chinese coast guard vessels operating nearby.

Both deployments, which come amid annual U.S.-Philippine military exercises, escalateongoing territorial disputes between Beijing and Manila and demonstrate China’s continued drive to annex new South China Sea features that could be used to project power and control shipping lanes.

Chinese Coast Guard Temporarily Unveils Flag on Sandy Cay

According to the Global Times, the CCG “exercised sovereign jurisdiction” on Sandy Cay to inspect the maritime feature, collect evidence of so-called “illegal activity,” and clean up trash and debris. The deployment follows Philippine authorities accusing China of dumping crushed coral around Sandy Cay and other features to artificially expand them — an allegation denied by Beijing, which has blamed Manila for harming Sandy Cay’s delicate ecology.

The deployment coincides with rising tensions within the region. Sandy Cay’s location between Subi Reef, a Chinese military base, and Thitu Island, which hosts a small Philippine military garrison and airstrip, accords the feature’s geopolitical importance. Both the Chinese and Philippine coast guards have sought to expand their presence around the reef, leading to a stand-off between competing flotillas in 2017.

Moreover, the release of the images comes as the Philippines and the United States are engaged in an expanded version of Exercise Balikatan — a set of annual joint military drills that China has previously labeled as “detrimental” to regional stability.

China’s Approach Mirrors Previous Annexation Processes

The Sandy Cay deployment is the latest escalation of China’s longstanding approach to control its illegal territorial claims, which comprise over 90 percent of the South China Sea. China acts aggressively to secure these claims, including with physical coercion, operations in disputed areas, and militarization of artificial islands. Along with expanding Beijing’s maritime control, these efforts have also allowed China to grow its operational reach across the First Island Chain, which runs from Japan to the coast of Vietnam.

Over the past decade, China has increasingly used its coast guard, maritime militia, and navy to block Philippine ships from accessing the feature. In January 2025, China prevented Philippine research and coast guard vessels from reaching Sandy Cay by flying a navy helicopter low overhead and sailing two CCG ships in front of the Philippine seacrafts. China used similar tactics — though with greater scale and aggression — before de-facto annexing Sabina Shoal in August 2024.

Washington Should Provide Military and Diplomatic Support to Manila

China’s deployment on Sandy Cay could indicate an intention to annex, expand, and possibly one day militarize the feature. This outcome would jeopardize U.S. national security interests by threatening the Philippines, further undermining international law, and increasing China’s ability to project power and control sea lanes. In response, the United States should continuously operate ships from the 7th Fleet in the South China Sea, sanction key CCG personnel involved in South China Sea aggression, support additional Philippine legal action in international courts, and issue a joint statement with regional partners in support of international maritime law.

Jack Burnham is a research analyst in the China Program at the Foundation for Defense of Democracies (FDD), where Reece Breaux is an intern. For more analysis from Jack, Reece, and FDD, please subscribe HERE. Follow Jack on X @JackBurnham802. Follow Reece on X @reece_breaux. Follow FDD on X @FDD. FDD is a Washington, DC-based, nonpartisan research institute focusing on national security and foreign policy.