South China Sea: is a report on Vietnam’s reclamation a smokescreen from Beijing’s row with Manila?

A Chinese think tank says Vietnam has reclaimed more land in the Spratly Islands over the past three years than in the previous 40 years

China might want to shift the blame over the territorial row to Vietnam and portray it as a ‘troublemaker’, an analyst says

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Vietnamese sailors patroling on Phan Vinh Island in the Spratly archipelago. Photo: AFP

Published: 6:16pm, 22 May 2024

A Chinese report stating that Vietnam had reclaimed land in the South China Sea has sparked concerns over another “battlefield” in the disputed waterway in what analysts say could be Beijing’s attempt to divert attention from its ongoing territorial row with the Philippines while limiting Hanoi’s actions.

The report last week by a Chinese think tank found Vietnam had reclaimed more land in the region over the past three years than in the previous four decades, warning such activity could “complicate and expand” disputes in the waters.

Titled Construction on Islands and Reefs Occupied by Vietnam, the Philippines and Malaysia in the Nansha Islands and released on May 14, the Beijing-based Grandview Institution said that until 2019, Hanoi carried out only “modest” reclamation efforts on 29 islands and reefs it controlled in the Spratly Islands, a disputed archipelago in the South China Sea.

But Vietnam has embarked on major dredging and landfill works in recent years and expanded the reclaimed area several times compared with the original 0.7 sq km (173 acres) of land, according to the report.

“Vietnam has carried out large-scale land expansion on several islands and reefs, adding 3 sq km of new land, far exceeding the total construction scale over the previous 40 years,” said Liu Xiaobo, the report’s author and director of Beijing-based Grandview’s Centre for Marine Studies.

Nguyen Khac Giang, visiting fellow in the Vietnam Studies Programme at the Singapore-based ISEAS-Yusof Ishak Institute, said the timing of the report suggested China wanted to create another “battlefield” by shifting attention away from its ongoing row with the Philippines in the South China Sea.