WASHINGTON – Vietnam has carried out a serious enlargement of dredging and landfill work at a number of of its South China Sea outposts within the second half of this yr, signaling an intent to considerably fortify its claims within the disputed waterway, a US suppose tank reported on Wednesday.
Washington’s Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS) mentioned the work within the Spratly Islands, that are additionally claimed by China and others, had created roughly 420 acres (170 hectares) of latest land and introduced the entire space Vietnam had reclaimed up to now decade to 540 acres (220 hectares).
Basing its findings on business satellite tv for pc imagery, CSIS’s Asia Maritime Transparency Initiative (AMTI) mentioned the hassle included expanded landfill work at 4 options and new dredging at 5 others.
“The scale of the landfill work, while still falling far short of the more than 3,200 acres of land created by China from 2013 to 2016, is significantly larger than previous efforts from Vietnam and represents a major move toward reinforcing its position in the Spratlys,” the report mentioned.
Vietnam’s Washington embassy didn’t instantly reply to a request for touch upon the report.
AMTI mentioned Vietnam’s midsized outposts at Namyit Island, Pearson Reef and Sand Cay have been present process main expansions, with a dredged port able to internet hosting bigger vessels already taking form at Namyit and Pearson.
Namyit Island, at 117 acres (47 hectares) and Pearson Reef, at 119 acres (48 hectares), have been each now bigger than Spratly Island at 97 acres (39 hectares), which had been Vietnam’s largest outpost. Tennent Reef, which beforehand solely hosted two small pillbox buildings, now had 64 acres (26 hectares)of synthetic land, the report mentioned.
AMTI mentioned Vietnam used clamshell dredgers to scoop up sections of shallow reef and deposit the sediment for landfill, a much less harmful course of than the cutter-suction dredging China had used to construct its synthetic islands.
“But Vietnam’s dredging and landfill activities in 2022 are substantial and signal an intent to significantly fortify its occupied features in the Spratlys,” the report mentioned.
“(W)hat infrastructure the expanded outposts will host remains to be seen. Whether and to what degree China and other claimants react will bear watching,” it mentioned.
China claims many of the South China Sea and has established navy outposts on synthetic islands it has constructed there. Taiwan, Vietnam, Malaysia, Brunei and the Philippines all have overlapping claims within the sea, which is crisscrossed by very important transport lanes and incorporates gasoline fields and wealthy fishing grounds. — Reuters
