Vietnam has dramatically intensified its island-building endeavors in the contested Spratly Islands of the South China Sea, poised to match or even eclipse the scale of China’s reclamation activities, according to a new report from a prominent U.S. think tank released on Friday.
The Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS), through its Asia Maritime Transparency Initiative, revealed that satellite imagery from early 2025 documents Vietnam’s expansion of dredging and landfill operations to eight previously untouched features in the Spratlys since reclamation efforts began in 2021. These include Alison Reef, Collins Reef, East Reef, Landsdowne Reef, and Petley Reefs.
The report underscores that all 21 Vietnamese-controlled rocks and low-tide elevations in the Spratly chain now boast artificial landmasses, a stark contrast to four years ago when most supported only rudimentary pillbox outposts.
Further expansion has also commenced at three sites—Amboyna Cay, Grierson Reef, and West Reef—previously enhanced with mid-sized artificial islands from earlier dredging phases.
“As of March 2025, Vietnam had reclaimed approximately 70% of the artificial land China created in the Spratlys,” the CSIS report noted. “With ongoing work at these eight new features, Vietnam is on track to equal, and likely surpass, Beijing’s island-building scale.”
China asserts sovereignty over nearly the entire South China Sea, despite competing claims from Brunei, Malaysia, the Philippines, and Vietnam. Beijing’s extensive reclamation projects have drawn criticism from the United States and its allies.
Recent imagery highlights emerging infrastructure, including munitions storage facilities, on Vietnamese-controlled reefs nearing the completion of dredging, such as Barque Canada Reef, Discovery Great Reef, Ladd Reef, Namyit Island, Pearson Reef, Sand Cay, and Tennent Reef. The placement of these structures and depots suggests full-length runways are unlikely on some larger features, with Barque Canada Reef’s runway likely the only addition to Vietnam’s sole existing airstrip on Spratly Island.
Neither the Chinese nor Vietnamese embassies in Washington responded immediately to requests for comment on the CSIS findings.
In February, China condemned Vietnam’s construction on Barque Canada Reef, claiming it as Chinese territory. In 2016, the Permanent Court of Arbitration in The Hague ruled that China’s expansive South China Sea claims lacked legal basis under international law—a decision Beijing continues to reject.
