Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Guo Jiakun said on Monday that Sandy Cay is part of China's Nansha Islands and that ''its law enforcement activities are aimed at countering the Philippines' illegal landings and other provocative actions'', the Global Times online said.

In a press conference held in Beijing, Guo said that China ''aims to maintain the reef's status as uninhabited and without facilities and upholding the seriousness of the Declaration on the Conduct of Parties in the South China Sea''.

The response comes after the National Task Force for the West Philippine Sea (NTF-WPS) statement on Sunday evening that China's claim that it had seized the Sandy Cay, a group of sandbars located a thousand yards east of Pag-asa Island.

Global Times said the China Coast Guard (CCG) announced that six Philippine personnel illegally boarded Tiexian Jiao (Chinese name of Sandy Cay) in the South China Sea despite the Chinese side's warnings and dissuasion.

''Following the move, the CCG officers boarded the Tiexian Jiao to verify and handle the situation in accordance with the law,'' Global Times said.

On Thursday, Chinese state media released a photo of the Chinese Coast Guard (CCG) posing with a flag of China allegedly taken on Cay 2, the largest of the Sandy Cay sandbars. Yzabela Velez-White/DMS