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.

China and the Philippines have each unfurled their national flags on tiny sandbars in the South China Sea, staking competing sovereignty claims in strategic waters seen as a potential flashpoint for global conflict.

Tiny Sandy Cay is strategically vital due to proximity to largest island occupied by Philippines in Spratly archipelago