By: Ivan Wang

Over the past 3 years, Vietnam has been rapidly building islands in the South China Sea. This attempt to seize water could turn a tense dispute between China and Vietnam into a bigger conflict.
Vietnam’s motive for this move is to expand into the South China Sea because it’s rich in oil. Currently, Taiwan, China, and Vietnam claim the current islands in the South China Sea belong to them, while Malaysia and the Philippines claim that a portion of the islands belong to them.

Since the start of their attempts to seize the waters, Vietnam has taken over 2000 acres of the waters, with 700 acres being claimed since November of 2023.

Since 2013, China has built 7 artificial islands in the empty waters of the Spratly Islands. They did this to strengthen their claim over the South China Sea. In order to strengthen their claim over the waters even more, they equipped 3 of the artificial islands with airfields, aircraft hangars, missiles, and many other military equipment

Some people think that Vietnam should react strongly to China’s attempts to seize the South China Sea. However, Song Phan, an expert on the region says, “In my opinion, all sides need to strive to preserve the status quo in the sea”.

The Philippine Navy says it’s going to be monitoring the events very closely. Jay Tarriela, PGC spokesperson for the West Philippine Sea, accuses China of harassing Vietnam’s fishermen and illegally sending coast guard ships into Vietnam’s occupied maritime features. Vietnam has not done anything yet in response to this yet.

Sources Used:https://subjecttoclimate.org/news/vietnams-island-building-in-disputed-waters-stokes-tensions-with-china