Posted on August 25, 2025
Aug 24, 2025 (Bloomberg) —Vietnam has sharply accelerated its island building efforts this year in the contested Spratly Islands in the South China Sea, a US think tank said.
The latest expansion covers eight reefs that previously weren’t part of the reclamation efforts that Hanoi started in 2021, according to a report from the Center for Strategic and International Studies released Friday.
Satellite imagery shows all 21 Vietnamese-held outposts in the Spratly Islands now feature artificial land — a major shift from just four years ago, when 11 were little more than reefs with pillbox structures, according to CSIS’ Asia Maritime Transparency Initiative.
The think tank estimates that as of March Vietnam has created about 70% as much artificial land in the Spratly Islands as China. With the addition of the eight newly reclaimed sites, it said that Vietnam is on track to “match — and likely surpass — the scale of Beijing’s island-building.”
Vietnam in May lodged a formal protest against China and the Philippines, accusing them of violating its sovereignty in the Spratlys. The move came after China planted a flag on an uninhabited reef in April and Philippines’ military carried out an operation nearby a few days later.
Beijing claims almost the entire South China Sea, where it has built numerous artificial islands. Vietnam, the Philippines, Brunei, Malaysia and Taiwan also hold competing claims, leading to disputes with China over where the boundaries fall.
