Scarborough Shoal (also known as Scarborough Reef/Panatag Shoal/Huangyan Island/Minzhu Jiao/Bajo de Masinloc) - Geographically situated not too far from the also-contested Spratly Island and Paracel Islands, this mound of sand has similar sovereignty issues to it's more well-known neighbours. The Philippines controls and runs this group, but China (People's Republic of China) lays claim to it, as part of it's Paracels, Spratlys, and Zhongsha Islands Authority, and Taiwan (Republic of China) expresses sovereignty too, in the context of being the 'true ruler of China'. Fishing is important in this part of the ocean, and this is probably the main reason for such a high demand on an circumspect isolated bunch of small low-lying islands and reefs.

South China Sea Islands disputes:
Macclesfield Bank (Zhongsha Islands)
Paracel Islands
Pratas Islands (part of Taiwan)
Scarborough Shoal
Spratly Islands

April 2012 Scarborough Shoal Standoff

The current military/political stand-off between The Philippines and China in the Scarborough Shoal region has been ignited because... "The Philippines said its warship found eight Chinese fishing vessels at the shoall... when it was patrolling the area on 8 April. When navy personnel boarded the Chinese fishing vessels on Tuesday they found a large amount of illegally-caught fish and coral... Two Chinese surveillance ships then arrived in the area, preventing the [Filipino] navy from making arrests (BBC)".

But this is just one of a bunch of ongoing disputes which China has with its neighbours. This interesting BBC map depicts the vast part of that region of the South China Sea which is claimed by China, plus the actual current 200 nautical mile Economic Exclusion Zones which are in place for all local nations.

The Scarborough Shoal dispute is further complicated by the United States' overall presence in the region, which upsets China, particularly because the US appears intent on keeping a massive military presence in the Asia-Pacific region. Recent joint military exercises involving US Marines and Filipino forces (view some images here) have only served to heap even more pressure on the current standoff between China and The Philippines.