China is reclaiming land at breakneck speed at Antelope Reef, satellite imagery shows, a move that analysts say could further strengthen Beijing’s ability to project power in the South China Sea.
Beijing asserts sovereignty over most of the South China Sea, through which more than one-fifth of global maritime trade flows each year. This puts the country at odds with the overlapping claims of several neighbors.
One of these is Vietnam. Chinese forces wrested control of the Paracel Islands from then-South Vietnam in 1974, and Beijing has since built out 20 outposts in the island group—some of them militarized.
Newsweek reached out to the Chinese and Vietnamese Foreign Ministries by email with requests for comment.
The latest effort centers on Antelope Reef—a submerged coral formation in the southwestern Paracels, some 250 miles east of the Vietnamese city of Hue and 175 miles southeast of China’s Hainan Province.
Roughly 1,490 acres have been reclaimed, most of it since October when the latest phase of work began, according to an analysis of satellite imagery from Vantor.
That’s comparable in size to China’s largest artificial island in the South China Sea, the Mischief Reef and two-thirds the size of nearby Woody Island. Antelope Reef is already large enough to support infrastructure observed on those two militarized features—including coastal defense systems, surface-to-air missile sites, and electronic warfare installations, wrote Washington, D.C.-think tank the Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS) think tank.
And a straightened edge that has taken shape along the reef’s northwest side since February is suitable for 9,000-foot airstrip, the CSIS wrote. A helipad near the lagoon entrance, more than 50 small, gray-roofed structures, and a larger building on the southwest side and jetties are visible in the new image. The lagoon could also accommodate People’s Liberation Army Navy and paramilitary vessels.
“On its surface, an additional major outpost in the Paracels would provide Beijing with incremental, rather than monumental, gains to its capabilities in the South China Sea,” the authors said. “While this may not significantly change the strategic picture in the South China Sea, Beijing is certainly signaling its ability to continually expand its occupied features—a message perhaps intended most directly for Hanoi, whose own reclamation and landfill activities in the Spratlys remain ongoing.”
Vietnam has also been accelerating its own reclamation work and appears to be following a similar model, adding military infrastructure on several features in the Spratly Islands.
While Vietnam has in recent years kept its protests measured to preserve stable ties with its larger neighbor and key trade partner, Hanoi issued a rare formal objection on Saturday over the work at Antelope Reef.
“Vietnam resolutely opposes such activities, makes representations and affirms its position on this matter,” Vietnamese Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Pham Thu Hang told reporters Saturday. “Any foreign activities conducted in Hoang Sa, including Hai Sam reef, without Vietnam’s permission are completely illegal and invalid,” she said, using Vietnam’s names for the Paracel Islands and Antelope Reef, respectively.
China’s Foreign Ministry pushed back Monday, reiterating Beijing’s claim the Paracels are the country’s “inherent territory.”
“Necessary construction on our own territory is aimed at improving living and working conditions on the islands and growing the local economy,” spokesperson Lin Jian told reporters.
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