From The Diplomat, August 31:
The request follows reports of extensive Chinese construction activities on Antelope Reef and a nearby islet.
Vietnam’s government on Friday expressed its opposition to “illegal” reclamation and construction activities in the Paracel Islands, after reports emerged of fresh Chinese construction activities in the contested South China Sea archipelago.
On August 14, the Asia Maritime Transparency Initiative (AMTI) reported that China had completed land reclamation at Antelope Reef in the Paracels, and appeared to be working on new infrastructure on the island.
AMTI, which is run by the Washington-based Center of Strategic and International Studies, said that “the first signs of major infrastructure at the new artificial island have emerged,” including a “likely airstrip.”
Reuters then reported on August 25 that new installations had been sighted on Yagong Reef, an islet close to Antelope Reef, citing photos taken by Vantor, a commercial provider of satellite images. While the purpose of the buildings was not certain, “several structures on Yagong Reef resemble other military radar/early warning facilities seen elsewhere in the South China Sea and are likely associated with the ultimate military functions of nearby Antelope Reef,” a Vantor spokesperson told the news agency.
Vietnam claims sovereignty over the Paracel Islands, which it refers to as Hoang Sa, but they have been under Chinese control since 1974, when China seized them following a battle with the then-teetering southern Republic of Vietnam.
When asked about the recent reports at a regular press briefing on Friday, Foreign Ministry Spokesperson Pham Thu Hang told the press that Vietnam “has full historical evidence and legal grounds to affirm its sovereignty over the archipelago, including Hai Sam reef and Ba Ba island, in accordance with international law,” using Hanoi’s preferred names for Antelope Reef and Yagong Reef.
Hang stated that all “foreign activities” in the Paracels, including the two sites in question, were “completely illegal and null and void,” and that Vietnam has lodged a strong diplomatic protest with China over the issue. “Vietnam demands the immediate cessation of such activities and that they not be repeated,” she added.
While Vietnam has no real power in the Paracels, in recent years it has undertaken a significant land reclamation at its features in the Spratly Islands, which lie to the south of the Paracels and are also contested by the Philippines, Malaysia, and Brunei. AMTI reported in May that Vietnam had reclaimed a total of 2,771 acres of land in the Spratlys and was beginning construction of extensive infrastructure on its features there, including harbors, munitions storage depots, and communications structures. AMTI has also previously reported that Vietnam is building an airstrip on Barque Canada Reef, its largest feature in the Spratlys....
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As a backgrounder, here's the intro to, and outro from, February 2021's "Vietnam Builds up Defences Against China in Spratly Islands"
Although we've mentioned that China did not achieve their goal of ejecting Vietnam from Cambodia and restoring the génocidaire Kmer Rouge with their attack on Vietnam in 1979, five years earlier the Chinese did defeat the Vietnamese in the Battle of the Paracel Islands which established de facto Chinese control over that group of islands....
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....Both groups of islands are within China's ridiculous "Nine-Dash-Line" claim (here with many more dashes):
If interested see also:
"Report: Chinese Vessel Rams Vietnamese Fishing Boat in S. China Sea"
I'm tellin' ya, China wants their military to get some battle experience before they do anything with Taiwan and Vietnam looks like a target.Vietnam Rising: "US-China trade war pushing Vietnam’s manufacturing industry to capacity"
A major piece on the country The Diplomat says will be the testing ground for China's military, prior to an invasion of Taiwan. See last month's "China Will Attack Vietnam".
Throw in Vietnam's undeveloped rare earth resource base, tied with Brazil for #2 in the world (combined they match China) and the risk it poses to China's lock on prices and Vietnam has suddenly gotten very interesting.
Oh, and China is still smarting from being unable to achieve their goals during the 1979 invasion of Vietnam...."Philippines President Duterte Threatened Beijing with Military Action":
When the Chinese stopped laughing they reflected and gave thanks it wasn't Vietnam* making the threat....He outlived all his adversaries.
****...The Vietnam line is in reference to the fact that General Võ Nguyên Giáp, possibly the greatest general of the 20th century, defeated in turn, the French empire, the U.S.A. Cambodia and China in 1954, 1975, 1978 and 1979 respectively.
That last conflict was the result of China's invasion of Vietnam in an attempt to force Vietnam out of Cambodia which Vietnam had invaded in 1978, putting Pol Pot and the Kmer Rouge génocidaires out of business. It didn't work, Vietnam stayed in Cambodia until 1989.
The General died in 2013 age 102.
