Vietnam steps up island-building in SCS
WHILE the Philippines was focused on deterring China’s aggression in the West Philippine Sea, Vietnam was quietly stepping up its island expansion projects in disputed features in the Philippines’ exclusive economic zone (EEZ).
From 2022 to 2023, Vietnam has reclaimed another 133 hectares of land to help develop disputed reefs and atolls in the South China Sea that have been under their control for decades, an updated report by the Asia Maritime Transparency Initiative (AMTI) said.
In comparison, in the previous decade, Hanoi created only 50 hectares of land in areas subject to overlapping claims.
This brings to 300 hectares the total area that Vietnam was able to reclaim, making it the only other claimant besides China that has undertaken more island expansion in the South China Sea.
According to the AMTI report, Vietnam is doing reclamation work in at least five features, all in areas also claimed by the Philippines.
In Magsaysay (Barque Canada) Reef, which has been occupied by Vietnam since 1988, more than 80 hectares of new land have been created. This is now considered the largest Vietnamese-occupied feature in the South China Sea.
In nearby Hizon (Pearson) Reef and Binago (Namyit) Island, approximately 65 and 49 hectares of land, respectively, have been added, said the AMTI.
Binago Island is the 12th largest naturally-occurring feature in the Spratly Islands and the fifth largest among the Vietnamese-administered islands.
Bailan Island (Sand Cay), occupied by Vietnam since 1974, and Lopez-Jaena (Tennent) Reef were also expanded by 33 and 25 hectares, respectively.
The AMTI report said that in October 2023, Vietnam started dredging activities at two additional outposts in the South China Sea.
In an interview on Sunday, Manila-based think tank Asian Century Philippines Strategic Studies Institute (ACPSSI) President Herman Tiu Laurel said Vietnam claims all of the Spratlys and has built facilities in at least 25 islands, rocks and features, three times more than what the Philippines today occupies.
Laurel said the Vietnamese-controlled area includes Pugad Island, which was once held by the Philippines but was “insidiously seized” by Vietnam in 1971.
“Vietnam was traditionally the most belligerent competitor of the Philippines over the Spratlys,” he said.
China’s presence in the area became a focus mainly after the United States’ “Pivot to Asia” in 2011, which led Beijing to build up seven island installations, Laurel said.
Commenting on what he said was Washington-led anti-China provocations and triggered by the Philippine Navy’s arrest of Chinese fishermen, the Scarborough (Bajo de Masinloc) Reef stand-off transpired in 2012.
This, in turn, led to the Philippines employing “lawfare” in 2013 by filing an international case against China in the arbitration court in The Hague, Netherlands, said Laurel.
In 2016, the court invalidated China’s nine-dash line claim over the entire South China Sea while upholding the sovereign rights of the Philippines in the area.
“Thereafter, Vietnam just watched and enjoyed the tension between the Philippines and China while it silently accelerated its island-building projects and the expansions of its outposts,” said Laurel.
Other countries with claims in the South China Sea are Brunei, Malaysia and Taiwan.