The National Maritime Council (NMC) on Saturday, May 3, dismissed China’s reported “seizure” of Sandy Cay near Pag-asa Island as a disinformation effort meant to distort facts and assert false control over Philippine territory in the West Philippine Sea.

The competing claims are reigniting tensions in the South China Sea and coincide with joint military drills between the U.S. and the Philippines.

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.