'sandbank of silver perch'), Bãi Cỏ Mây (Vietnamese) and Rén'ài Jiāo (Chinese: 仁爱礁/仁愛礁),[1] is a submerged reef in the Spratly Islands of the South China Sea, 105 nautical miles (194 km; 121 mi) west of Palawan, Philippines.

[4][5] It is a tear-drop shaped atoll, 11 nautical miles (20 km; 13 mi) long, from north to south[6] and fringed with coral reefs.

[12] Parts of the Spratly group of islands, where Second Thomas Shoal lies, are claimed by China, Brunei, the Philippines, Malaysia and Vietnam.

[18] PRC coast guard vessels blocked two attempts by Philippine ships to resupply the garrison on March 9, 2014, thus supplies were airdropped to it three days later.

Another supply ship with replacement troops successfully reached the atoll on March 29, 2014, by sailing through shallow waters where the PRC vessels, having deeper drafts, were unable to follow.

[29] Earlier in the same year, a PRC coast guard ship intercepted a Philippine coast guard ship en route to the Sierra Madre and beamed a green laser light at the latter, which light the Philippine side alleged was "military grade" and caused its crew to suffer from temporary blindness.

A month later, a "provisional agreement" on supply missions had been reached between China and the Philippines as part of efforts to de-escalate tensions, with the details kept secret.