What Vietnam’s South China Sea island-building spree means for Asean

Vietnam’s rapid expansion of artificial island construction in the disputed Spratly Islands has put it on track to surpass China’s land reclamation in the South China Sea, according to new satellite imagery.

Yet the development could deepen strains within Asean, analysts warn, as member states and rival claimants seek to juggle sovereignty disputes with regional unity.

Fresh satellite imagery released on Friday by the Washington-based Centre for Strategic and International Studies shows Vietnamese dredging and landfill operations at eight previously untouched features, building on a surge of reclamation that began in 2021.

The report, by the centre’s Asia Maritime Transparency Initiative, documents how once-isolated Vietnamese outposts, previously little more than pillboxes on rocks or low-tide elevations, have been transformed into artificial islands at Alison, Collins, East, Landsdowne and Petley reefs.

Vietnam has also expanded three existing sites – Amboyna Cay, Grierson Reef and West Reef – where earlier dredging had created medium-sized islands.

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Why the South China Sea dispute remains one of the region’s most pressing issues

The Spratlys, a scattering of reefs and islets, are one of the most widely contested features in the South China Sea. In addition to Vietnam, fellow Association of Southeast Asian Nations’ members the Philippines, Malaysia and Brunei all hold competing claims, while Beijing asserts sovereignty over nearly the entire waterway.

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