China on brink of 'irrational' clash to snatch control of South China Sea flashpoint
China has been vying for control over the large body of water for decades and repeatedly clashed with its neighbours to assert its sovereignty.
The deal to defuse tensions in the South China Sea that Beijing agreed to early this week with the Philippines could soon collapse as China eyes a new sector of the sea to extend its demands.
Xi Jinping's government announced it had struck an agreement with Manila to end the naval and verbal clashes that have rocked their relationship for the past year.
Both countries claim control over parts of the South China Sea, with the Philippines's outpost at Second Thomas Shoal becoming a major point of contention between the two nations.
Experts, however, have warned the truce could be short-lived as another area of the disputed body of water has been tipped to become a major flashpoint in the ongoing maritime row.
The disputed Sabina Shoal has emerged as a potential next target in China's hostile attempts to assert its power over the South China Sea.
Chinese state media has already accused Manila of making deliveries of "suspected" building materials to the atoll - claims which the Philippines has denied.
Former People's Liberation Army instructor Song Zhongping warned that Beijing is ready to take "tough measures" should its neighbour insist "on its provocations."
Mr Song said: "China’s current restraint does not mean we are weak. If China takes action, it will never lose."
Greg Poling, the director of the Southeast Asia Program and the Asia Maritime Transparency Initiative (AMTI) at CSIS, insisted the risk of escalation at Sabine Shoal is lower than at Second Thomas Shoal.
However, he noted that China could be drawn into an "irrational" decision in its efforts to secure control of the South China Sea.
Speaking to the Financial Times, Mr Poling said: "Sabina Shoal falls into a second category, which is everything else around the Philippines’ islands, where Manila is trying to maintain a presence, increase patrols, to show that it’s in control of its waters.
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"If the situation there develops into something, it would be irrational. But a lot of what happens in the South China Sea is irrational.”
But the former chief of staff of Manila's armed forces insisted that the Philippines should not underestimate the strategic importance the atoll could have.
Gen Emanuel Bautista said: "You pass by Sabina Shoal on the way to Ayungin [Vietnamese for Second Thomas Shoal]. So if China seized Sabina, they would practically be cutting off Ayungin Shoal.”
Second Thomas Shoal has played a crucial military role for years as a military outpost in the South China Sea.
Manila ran aground the warship BRP Sierra Madre there in 1999 and has kept a small contingency of soldiers on the vessel ever since.
Gen Bautista warned that controlling Sabine Shoal would allow China to have unfettered access to other islands under Manila's jurisdictions.
And it could create a "potential path of an invasion" from the man-made Mischief Reef from which Beijing has been exerting its control over the South China Sea.
