Philippine Marines, National Police officers and Coast Guard members landed on three contested South China Sea features today to assert Manila’s maritime jurisdiction following a similar China Coast Guard action earlier this month.

BEIJING (AP) — China says six Filipinos landed on a tiny outcropping that both countries claim in the South China Sea, days after photos emerged of Chinese coast guard officers displaying a Chinese flag on the same group of sandbars.

Sandy Cay lies just a few nautical miles from Thitu Island, the largest Philippine military outpost in the Spratly Islands.