By Chen Meihua | 2025-09-17

Vietnam has quietly become a rival of China in a high-stakes game: land reclamation in disputed waters.

Vietnam has been advancing large-scale land reclamation projects in the Spratlys this year, involving several new islands and reefs. These activities have brought the scale of Vietnam's island-building efforts closer to China's, drawing heightened attention in the South China Sea (known as the East Sea in Vietnam).

Building an island enables a country to claim an Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZs) around it. That country has sole rights to the natural resources in the EEZ.

An island's EEZ extends up to 200 nautical miles from its baseline.

Catching up with China

By March, the area of land reclaimed by Vietnam in the Spratlys (known as Nansha Qundao in China and Truong Sa archipelago in Vietnam) equalled 70% of the area China has reclaimed there, a US think tank, the Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS), said in August.

If ongoing island and reef expansion projects are included, Vietnam's island-building activities may eventually equal or even exceed China's in total area.

Crews have expanded 21 reefs and low-tide elevations under Vietnam's de facto control in the Spratlys with artificial land, the report states.

Satellite images included in the report reveal that dredging operations on islands and reefs claimed by Vietnam are nearing completion. Some of these islands now feature military infrastructure, such as ammunition depots.

Vietnam's strategic calculations

Vietnam is accelerating its island-building even while anticipating displeasure in Beijing.

William Yang, a senior analyst for Northeast Asia at the International Crisis Group (Brussels, Belgium), explained Vietnam's strategic goal to Focus.

"For Vietnam, expanding islands and reefs is a core task to safeguard its sovereignty and strategic interests in the South China Sea," he said.

"The South China Sea carries great strategic value. ... [W]ith China stepping up its use of legal warfare, coast guard deployments and military exercises to assert sovereignty and strengthen control, Vietnam must adopt similar measures to counter China and protect its maritime rights and interests."

The Spratly Islands are Chinese territory, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Guo Jiakun said on August 25 in response to the CSIS report.

"China firmly opposes relevant countries' construction activities on islands and reefs they illegally occupy," said Guo.

China moved first

China, though, might already have an advantage over Vietnam because it moved first.

"China has already occupied the key strategic positions of islands and reefs in the South China Sea. From China's perspective, Vietnam's expansion may not pose a major security threat to the islands and reefs that China has already occupied, expanded and militarized," Alexander Huang, a political scientist at Tamkang University in New Taipei City, Taiwan, told Focus.

As the United States adjusts its policies in the strategic first island chain, China is more inclined to stabilize the situation than to provoke its land neighbors with aggressive actions, said Huang.

The chain includes Japan, Taiwan and the Philippines.

In April, China convened its own officials to discuss policy toward neighboring countries. At the event, Chinese President Xi Jinping stressed the need to build a "community of shared future" with neighboring states and to strategically manage regional differences.

A different style

Unlike the Philippines, which directly confronts Beijing, Vietnam often handles South China Sea disputes through private channels, prompting China to adopt a "lower-intensity" response, said Yang.

Zhao Leji, chairman of the Standing Committee of the Chinese National People's Congress, attended Vietnam's August Revolution and National Day celebrations from August 31 to September 2, with a People's Liberation Army honor guard taking part.

At his meeting with Vietnamese leader To Lam, they pledged to manage South China Sea disputes peacefully.

To Lam stressed both Vietnam's commitment to relations with China and its nonalignment "four no's" policy -- no military alliances, no siding with one country against another, no foreign bases on Vietnamese soil and no use or threat of force.

"Both countries are one-party Communist systems, so there is no fundamental ideological conflict," said Huang.

"However, in the South China Sea, they do have conflicting interests in fisheries, oil, minerals and sovereignty claims."