Sand Cay
Island in the South China Sea
title: "Sand Cay" type: doc version: 1 created: 2026-02-28 author: "Wikipedia contributors" status: active scope: public tags: ["islands-of-the-spratly-islands", "tizard-bank", "disputed-islands"] description: "Island in the South China Sea" topic_path: "general/islands-of-the-spratly-islands" source: "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sand_Cay" license: "CC BY-SA 4.0" wikipedia_page_id: 0 wikipedia_revision_id: 0
::summary Island in the South China Sea ::
::data[format=table title="Infobox islands"]
| Field | Value |
|---|---|
| disputed | yes |
| name | Sand Cay |
| type | island |
| other_names | |
| Đảo Sơn Ca (Vietnamese) | |
| Bailan Island (Philippine English) | |
| Pulo ng Bailan (Filipino) | |
| 敦謙沙洲 / 敦谦沙洲 Dūnqiān Shāzhōu (Chinese) | |
| image_name | Sand Cay island.png |
| pushpin_map | Spratly Islands relief |
| location | South China Sea |
| coordinates | |
| archipelago | Spratly Islands |
| area_ha | 40 |
| country | |
| country_admin_divisions_title | District |
| country_admin_divisions | Trường Sa District |
| country_admin_divisions_title_2 | Commune |
| country_admin_divisions_2 | Sinh Tồn Commune |
| country1 | |
| country2 | |
| country3 | |
| country4 | |
| :: |
| disputed = yes | name = Sand Cay | type = island | other_names = Đảo Sơn Ca (Vietnamese) Bailan Island (Philippine English) Pulo ng Bailan (Filipino) 敦謙沙洲 / 敦谦沙洲 Dūnqiān Shāzhōu (Chinese) | image_name = Sand Cay island.png | image_caption = | pushpin_map = Spratly Islands relief | location = South China Sea | coordinates = | archipelago = Spratly Islands | area_ha = 40 | country = | country_admin_divisions_title = District | country_admin_divisions = Trường Sa District | country_admin_divisions_title_2 = Commune | country_admin_divisions_2 = Sinh Tồn Commune | country1 = | country2 = | country3 = | country4 =
| caption=From right to left: Sand Cay, Zhongzhou/Ban Than Reef and Taiping Island | image=Tizard Bank, Spratly Islands.png | width=250 | | image-top=-40 | image-left=-280 | annotations= | image caption = | image size =
Sand Cay, also known as Bailan Island () and Son Ca Island (; Mandarin ), is a cay on the north edge of the Tizard Bank of the Spratly Islands in the South China Sea. With an natural area of 7 ha, it is the ninth largest, and the fourth largest Vietnamese-administered, of the Spratly Islands. The island has been occupied by Vietnam since 1974 (first by South Vietnam, then by the Socialist Republic of Vietnam after 1975). It is also claimed by China (PRC), the Philippines, Vietnam, and Taiwan (ROC).
According to reports for 2025, Vietnam expanded the island to 40 hectares with land reclaimed from the sea.
Sovereignty
The island has been occupied by Vietnam since 1974 (first by South Vietnam, then by the Socialist Republic of Vietnam after 1975). By the later half of the 20th century, no nation had complete sovereignty on the islands.
Geography
::figure[src="https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/4/4e/Sand_Cay.jpg" caption="Sand Cay in 2020"] ::
::figure[src="https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/3/3e/00-149_Tizard_Bank_Spratly_Islands.png"] ::
Part of the Tizard Bank, Sand Cay lies 6.2 nmi east of Itu Aba Island, which is occupied by Taiwan. It is 450 m long, 102 m wide, and has an elevation of 3.5 m to 3.8 m at low tide. There is a 41 m high light house on the islet. Sand Cay is commonly confused with Sandy Cay which is a sandy shoal (coral reef) near Thitu Island.
In 2022, news reports indicated that the Vietnamese government was engaged in dredging and landfill operations to expand the size of Sand Cay, Namyit Island, and Pearson Reef. The total area of the land reclaimed in these operations was estimated to be 170 hectares (420 acres).
Ecology
Sand Cay has no natural fresh water. The islet's coral sand is covered with a thin layer of fertile humus mixed with guano. The vegetation is mainly Barringtonia asiatica, Ipomoea pes-caprae, Casuarinaceae species and some grasses. In recent years, islanders have cultivated fruit trees such as pomelo, jackfruit, dragonfruit, sugar-apple and guava. Sand Cay is usually visited by seabirds, and its surrounding water is rich with fish, sea snails and sea cucumbers.
References
References
- "Digital Gazetter of Spratly Islands".
- (2011). "Những điều cần biết về hai quần đảo Hoàng Sa, Trường Sa và khu vực thềm lục địa phía nam [What you need to know about Paracel Islands, Spratly Islands and southern continental shelf]". Political Department, Naval Command (Vietnam).
- Phạm Thanh Hà; Lưu Phương Mai. (May 9, 2011). "Kí sự Trường Sa - kì 3: Nơi anh đến là biển xa...". Nhân dân online.
- (December 14, 2022). "Vietnam carries out 'substantial' expansion in South China Sea, US thinktank finds". The Guardian.
- Nguyễn Đình Quân. (December 27, 2011). "Sơn Ca Xanh". Tiền phong online.
::callout[type=info title="Wikipedia Source"] This article was imported from Wikipedia and is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Content has been adapted to SurfDoc format. Original contributors can be found on the article history page. ::