South China Sea: Philippines worries ‘friendly’ Vietnam’s reclamation could escalate row

Last week, the Philippine navy said it was “monitoring” Vietnam’s island-building activities in the West Philippine Sea, part of the South China Sea that Manila considers within its exclusive economic zone.

In a report this month, the Washington-based Asia Maritime Transparency Initiative (AMTI) at the Centre for Strategic and International Studies said Vietnam had rapidly expanded its dredging and landfill operations in the South China Sea over the past six months.

Vietnam is “on pace for a record year of island building in 2024”, the report said, noting that Hanoi had added 692 acres (2.8 sq km) across 10 features in the Spratly Islands since November, roughly matching its efforts in the last two years.

The think tank said Vietnam had reclaimed around 2,360 acres of land, around half of China’s reclamation, a near 10-fold increase from three years ago.

John Bradford, executive director of the Yokosuka Council on Asia-Pacific Studies said Vietnam’s island-building showed the complexity of the disputes in the South China Sea where discussions often oversimplified the situation as China versus Southeast Asian, when Southeast Asian claimants also have their differences.

“[Vietnamese island-building] is not a direct threat to Manila’s sovereignty, and it is quite unlikely the Philippines-Vietnam relationship will boil to a crisis,” said Bradford, a former US navy officer.

Joshua Espeña, a resident fellow and vice-president of Manila-based International Development and Security Cooperation think tank, said Vietnam’s activities do not pose a short-term security threat to Philippine interests given how little it has developed compared to China.

Hanoi would only pose a long-term security threat to Manila if the two countries fail to