The communist government of Vietnam has rapidly accelerated the construction of facilities that appear military in nature in the South China Sea, Voice of America observed Wednesday, citing satellite image studies.
Southeast Asian nations have expressed growing concern in the past decade over rapidly expanding construction of artificial islands, later equipped with military gear, by the Communist Party of China. China claims nearly the entirety of the South China Sea, overlapping with the sovereign territory of Vietnam, the Philippines, Brunei, Taiwan, and Malaysia. Nations without claims in the designated region, like Indonesia, have also expressed discomfort with China’s militarization of the region as China’s recently built facilities are located near their maritime borders.
Vietnam and China are ideological allies with an extensive, fraught history of disputing borders. Their most recent military encounter occurred in the South China Sea in 1988, a border dispute resulting in dozens of casualties. More recently, Chinese ships have attacked Vietnamese civilian vessels present legally in Vietnamese waters, on at least one occasion sinking the vessel and endangering the lives of those aboard.
Their shared communist government structure has not prevented protests in Vietnam against China’s colonization of South China Sea territory.
Of particular concern to both parties are the Spratly Islands, a chain also claimed in part by the Philippines. Voice of America, citing research from the Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS), revealed Wednesday that the Vietnamese government is expanding construction in the Spratly Island region, apparently both to prevent China from claiming no other nation is active in the area and to develop military defenses in the event of a Chinese attack.
“Vietnam-held West Reef in the Spratly archipelago has seen ‘significant new construction,'” the outlet noted, citing CSIS’s Asia Maritime Transparency Initiative, which monitors development in the South China Sea. “The website that cites satellite photos notes several coastal defense installations, administrative buildings, concrete pads and bunkers plus a tower structure that may be used for communications.”
Vietnam currently controls ten islands or islets in the Spratly Islands, all of which, the Voice of America report noted, now feature some military assets. Vietnam’s military presence in the region is far more formidable than any other nation except China, including the neighboring Philippines, which has resisted challenging China directly under current President Rodrigo Duterte. His predecessor, Benigno Aquino III, took China to the Permanent Court of Arbitration at the Hague, an international tribunal, over Beijing’s illegal claims in the South China Sea. The Court ruled in 2016 that China’s claims were indeed illegal, but Beijing has resisted abiding by the ruling.
This week’s report noted that much of the construction by Vietnam’s military has been ongoing for years, not a recent development in response to Chinese expansion. Yet the revelations follow reports China has increased its construction of facilities in the region in the past year, largely under the radar as much of the world’s attention was focused on the Chinese coronavirus pandemic. The South China Sea Chronicle Initiative (SCSCI), a non-governmental organization, published satellite photos in February showing a new Chinese-built facility, appearing to be a future surface-to-air missile base, in the South China Sea near Vietnam. Another recently identified base appeared to have been under construction since last summer, suggesting investment in South China Sea expansion while the pandemic raged.
Vietnam has repeatedly used public platforms, particularly at the United Nations, to condemn China’s invasion of its territory and urge international support for its sovereignty.
“Together with countries within and outside the region, we are committed to the maintenance and promotion of peace, stability, maritime security and safety and freedom of navigation in the East Sea (South China Sea), in accordance with international law, particularly the 1982 United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea [UNCLOS],” President Nguyễn Phú Trọng said during his last address to the U.N. General Assembly in 2020. “We call on all concerned parties to exercise restraint, avoid unilateral acts that would complicate the situation, and settle disputes and differences through peaceful means with due respect for diplomatic and legal processes.” The Vietnamese government similarly pleaded with regional governments to use “restraint” in construction in the region in its 2019 address.
The 2020 remarks followed China announcing that it would establish a local government in the Spratly Islands, to which Vietnam also objected.
“These acts are not conducive to the development of the friendly relations between countries and further complicate the situation in the East Sea [Vietnam’s name for the South China Sea], the region and the world,” Vietnamese foreign ministry spokesperson Le Thi Thu Hang objected at the time. “Vietnam demands that China respect Vietnam’s sovereignty and annul its wrongful decisions and not repeat similar activities in the future.”
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