A Vietnamese naval soldier stands quard at Thuyen Chai island in the Spratly archipelago in the South China Sea on January 17, 2013. China, Vietnam, the Philippines, Malaysia, Brunei and Taiwan all claim territory in the sea, which covers important shipping routes and is thought to hold untapped oil and gas reserves. Picture taken… Acquire Licensing Rights
HANOI, Nov 17 (Reuters) – Vietnam has been ramping up its dredging and landfill work in the Spratly Islands in the South China Sea, creating another 330 acres of land since December last year, a U.S. think tank said in a report.
The expansion, much larger than 120 acres it had created between 2012 and 2022, made Vietnam second only to China in terms of island buildup in the Spratly Islands, Washington’s Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS) said in the report this week, citing satellite imagery.
Vietnam’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
China claims sovereignty over vast swathes of the South China Sea, including the areas where Vietnam has been building up islands.
The sea is one of the world’s most contested waterways, where more than $3 trillion of…
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