Scarborough Shoal

Scarborough Shoal, also known as Bajo de Masinloc, Panatag Shoal, Huangyan Island, and Democracy Reef, are two rocks in an atoll administered by China in the South China Sea. It is located between Macclesfield Bank, a sunken atoll of underwater reefs and shoals east of the Paracel islands and Luzon, the nearest landmass, 220 kilometres away and the largest island of the Philippines.It is a disputed territory claimed by the Republic of the Philippines through the 1734 Velarde map, while the People's Republic of China and the Republic of China claim it through the disputed nine-dash line. The atolls status is often discussed in conjunction with other territorial disputes in the South China Sea such as those involving the Spratly Islands, and the 2012 Scarborough Shoal standoff.