China landed on a reef in the South China Sea, which it disputes with the Philippines, and unfurled its five-star red flag. A few months ago, vessels from both countries collided near this reef.
The Chinese state-owned English newspaper Global Times noted on the 24th, "The Coast Guard of China exercised sovereignty at the Tiexianzhao (known as Sandy Cay in the Philippines) in the middle of this month," and released a photo. The photo shows four DAEWON members posing for a commemorative shot holding the five-star red flag atop the reef. Global Times stated, "They landed on the reef to conduct inspections and cleaned up scattered plastic bottles and wooden sticks around the area."
Sandy Cay, which belongs to the Spratly Islands (known as Nansha Islands in China), is an area of conflict between China and the Philippines, along with Scarborough Shoal (known as Huangyan Dao in China) and Second Thomas Shoal (known as Ren'ai Jiao in China). It is only 4.6 km away from Pag-asa Island in the Philippines. Thitu Island serves as a forward operating base for the Philippines in the South China Sea, housing about 200 civilians.
In January, two vessels from the Bureau of Fisheries and Aquatic Resources of the Philippines conducting a marine scientific survey near Sandy Cay faced "aggressive maneuvers" from three Chinese Coast Guard ships. At the time, the Philippine Coast Guard stated that "the Chinese Coast Guard harassed with small boats and created a dangerous situation with low-flying naval helicopters," to which the Chinese Coast Guard responded, "We intercepted and drove away Philippine vessels attempting illegal landings."
Last March, when the Philippines attempted a marine survey, the Chinese Coast Guard protested, claiming it was an unauthorized landing.
Since 1953, China has drawn an arbitrary maritime boundary known as the "nine-dash line" in the South China Sea, claiming that 90% of the sea is its own. This has led to conflicts with the Philippines, as well as with Vietnam, Malaysia, and Brunei for over 90 years.