By Wu Qiaoxi | 2026-05-29

Claims of Sino-Vietnamese friendship are belied by the two countries' actions in the South China Sea.

Vietnamese President To Lam visited China in April on his first foreign trip since taking office. A joint statement issued during the visit pledged deeper comprehensive strategic cooperation and reiterated the importance of managing maritime disputes.

But the diplomatic goodwill contrasts with continuing competition in the South China Sea. Vietnam is maintaining a rapid pace of land reclamation in the Spratly Islands while increasingly shifting toward infrastructure development, new analysis by a U.S. think tank shows.

Satellite imagery released in May showed Vietnam continued dredging and land reclamation following measurements taken in March 2025, the Asia Maritime Transparency Initiative (AMTI), part of the Center for Strategic and International Studies, said.

Vietnam created about 534 acres of new land over the past year, bringing its total reclaimed area to roughly 2,771 acres.

Barque Canada Reef has since become Vietnam's largest outpost in the South China Sea.

Infrastructure push

Vietnam is also building specialized infrastructure at its larger outposts. Satellite imagery shows Hanoi has installed a Doppler Very High Frequency Omnidirectional Range beacon on Barque Canada Reef, using equipment similar to navigation systems installed at China's airfields in the Spratly Islands.

The system can provide precise aircraft navigation within a radius of about 100 nautical miles.

Vietnam's reclamation program has grown to 21 reefs, shoals and sandbanks under its control in the Spratly Islands, according to the Chatham House think-tank in London. Vietnam is rapidly developing ports, airstrips and other military facilities on those bits of land.

"The overall program is dramatic and shows that Vietnam is spending large amounts of money on defending its positions in the Spratlys," Bill Hayton, an associate fellow with Chatham House's Asia-Pacific Program, said in March.

Vietnam now operates 15 ports in the Spratlys, 11 of which it has built since 2021. New facilities are under construction at Grierson Reef, Petley Reef and South Reef.

Closing the gap

Vietnam's expansion briefly brought it close to matching China's pace of reclamation in early 2025. But China subsequently began working on Antelope Reef and widened the gap again.

The activity at Antelope Reef in the Paracels, China's first significant reclamation since 2017, could produce an artificial island rivaling or surpassing Mischief Reef in size, AMTI said. The reef could become the largest Chinese feature in the South China Sea.

Hanoi has condemned China's construction at Antelope Reef as "completely illegal and invalid."

China's total artificial land area in the Spratlys now stands at about 5,460 acres, while it has destroyed an estimated 6,224 acres of coral reef through reclamation.

Vietnam's own dredging and reclamation have destroyed about 4,120 acres of coral reef in the Spratlys, 66% of China's total.

China claims sovereignty over most of the South China Sea, a claim invalidated by an international arbitration ruling in 2016. Beijing said last year it opposed Vietnam's construction on Barque Canada Reef, which it regards as Chinese territory.

Future impact

The focus of competition is increasingly shifting from land reclamation to infrastructure development, said AMTI.

"With most of Hanoi's expanded islands now fully formed, the transition to infrastructure construction has begun," the group said.

"It won't be until these facilities are complete and Vietnamese military and law enforcement begin to operate from them, however, that the full effects of Hanoi's expansion will be felt."

The trend could have broader consequences across the region, say researchers.

"This has opened a Pandora's box that could lead to competitive island building across the South China Sea," said Nitya Labh, a researcher at Chatham House.