As foreign news outlets continue to provide the latest information about China’s construction activities in the Hoàng Sa, or Paracel Islands, public frustration is mounting over the silence from Vietnamese state media.
The Latest: On Aug. 19, Reuters reported that China completed the first stage of land reclamation at Đá Hải Sâm—known in English as Antelope Reef and identified on Chinese maps as Lingyang Jiao, or 羚羊礁.
- The reef is located 216 nautical miles, or approximately 400 kilometers, from Đà Nẵng in the Hoàng Sa Islands.
- After at least six months of construction, the project has created an artificial island nearly 6 kilometers long in a disputed area of the South China Sea.
The Details: Satellite imagery from commercial provider Vantor reveals a straight stretch of shoreline more than 3 kilometers long, which experts suggest could serve as a runway.
- Additionally, a pier measuring about 680 meters long has been built in front of a deepwater harbor, where a coast guard vessel was seen anchored.
- Barges and dredging vessels have since departed the area.
An image captured by Vantor on July 19 showed China beginning to build structures at the island’s southeastern corner, including a helicopter landing pad.
- Damien Symon, an open-source intelligence analyst, stated that China began construction at Đá Hải Sâm in December 2025.
Regarding the geopolitical implications, Reuters reported that the location of the reef could give Chinese military planners additional options for deploying weapons systems, including H-6 strategic bombers.
From the Experts: Ben Lewis, founder of the open-source intelligence platform PLATracker, noted that the project could become one of China’s most important military installations in the South China Sea.
- He stated it would be larger than nearby Woody Island and potentially easier to defend than China’s bases in the Trường Sa or the Spratly Islands.
- “I believe the Central Military Commission [China’s highest military authority — editor’s note] has elevated the importance of the South China Sea and the Southern Theater Command over the past year, primarily in connection with Taiwan,” Lewis told Reuters
Collin Koh, a security expert in Singapore, indicated that Đá Hải Sâm could help China establish “fortresses” or control maritime zones in the South China Sea, protecting ballistic missile submarines capable of carrying nuclear warheads.
- He added that the island would probably be equipped with extensive surveillance systems, which could complicate operations by United States and Vietnamese submarines that regularly operate in the region.
Furthermore, Carl Thayer, a professor at the Australian Defence Force Academy, observed that the completed facilities could expand China’s ability to monitor the United States and its allies during peacetime while complicating military operations during a conflict.
- “It would be one more factor the United States has to address and another target it may have to defend itself against in confronting China,” Thayer said.
From the Government: The Vietnamese government has not issued a new response to the construction at Đá Hải Sâm.
Previously, Foreign Ministry spokesperson Phạm Thu Hằng stated on March 21 that Việt Nam has “sufficient historical evidence and legal grounds” under international law to affirm its sovereignty over the Hoàng Sa Islands, including Đá Hải Sâm.
- “All foreign activities in the Paracel Islands, including at Đá Hải Sâm, conducted without Việt Nam’s permission are entirely illegal and null and void,” Hằng said.
From Social Media: The lack of domestic reporting has led to significant public reaction; at 9:45 a.m. Aug. 25, Threads displayed about 2 million posts connected to the phrase “China builds an island at Đá Hải Sâm.”
On Aug. 24, the account gocca*** wrote: “China is building a military facility on Phú Lâm Island only 400 kilometers from Đà Nẵng, and bombers are about to be deployed there. This is the real hostile force […], not Gen Z people like us.” The post received more than 12,600 likes in just over a day.
- Another account, fugvi*** , commented: “Since the beginning of the year, incidents involving ships sinking in the South China Sea have been buried by those above, or domestic scandals have been exposed to distract public attention. I truly do not understand why they have remained silent for so long.”
- This comment received more than 1,000 likes.
Meanwhile, the Ministry of Public Security has restricted access in Việt Nam to some posts about the development on Facebook.
- On Aug. 23, the ministry blocked a post titled “The Threat of Losing the Nation” from the Bàn Tròn Chính Trị Việt Nam page less than a day after it was published.
The Background: Sovereignty in the South China Sea remains a deeply contentious geopolitical issue between Việt Nam and China.
- China began accelerating large-scale land reclamation and artificial-island construction in the region in 2013. As Beijing’s actions grew more assertive, Việt Nam entered the island-building race in 2022 to reinforce its sovereignty claims.
- By early 2025, Việt Nam’s reclamation activity had nearly caught up with China’s. However, the gap widened again after China dredged and expanded Đá Hải Sâm, bringing its total artificial land area to about 5,460 acres, or roughly 2,210 hectares.
Additionally, environmental experts have long criticized the dredging of reefs and large-scale reclamation by competing claimants due to the severe damage inflicted upon marine ecosystems.
Why It Matters: During President Tô Lâm’s state visit to China in April 2026, the two countries pledged to deepen cooperation in trade, infrastructure connectivity, defense, and security.
Việt Nam has identified its relationship with China as a “strategic priority.”
- Against this backdrop, the South China Sea dispute produced no notable progress and remained marginal in the two countries’ agenda.
Thành Phương wrote this news article in Vietnamese and published it in Luật Khoa Magazine on August 25, 2026. The Vietnamese Magazine translated it into English.
