Vietnam has considerably expanded its Spratly Island outposts over the last ten months, completing a record year of island building in 2024 and moving on to dredge in new areas even as some features approach completion.
Since AMTI’s last update in June 2024, Vietnam has created 641 new acres of land, continuing at the breakneck pace set between November 2023 and June 2024 when it created 692 acres. This brings Vietnam’s current total for overall dredging (including both landfill and harbor/channel dredging) in disputed areas to the South China Sea to approximately 3,319 acres, 71 percent of China’s total of 4,650 acres.
Along with total dredging, Beijing also remains ahead in artificial land created in the Spratly Islands, with over 3,500 acres to Hanoi’s 2,236. But a significant 1,081 acres of Vietnam’s dredging has gone toward the creation of eight new harbors across its outposts—a figure that suggests that enhanced maritime logistics are a core component of Hanoi’s expansion goals.
Continuing Landfill
Developments in the latter half of 2024 centered on completing expansive landfill projects in areas already under development, including 143 new acres at Barque Canada Reef, 118 acres at Discovery Great Reef, 125 acres at Ladd Reef, and 121 acres on South Reef.
Some features such as Namyit Island and Sand Cay now appear more or less complete in terms of landfill. On the other end of the spectrum, new dredging has begun at the northern end of Cornwallis South Reef to expand preexisting pillbox structures. AMTI previously reported on preliminary construction of defense emplacements at some features, but relatively little new facilities construction was seen from late 2024 through early 2025.
A Look Toward Capabilities
Vietnam’s expansion efforts since 2021 have been focused not just on expanding the land area of its outposts, but on providing new capabilities for its military and maritime forces. The clearest indicator of this lies in that fact that eight of ten recently expanded features are receiving newly dredged harbors.
Prior to 2021, Vietnam only had four outposts equipped with harbors: Sin Cowe Island, Southwest Cay, Spratly Island, and West Reef. Since then, Vietnam has tripled this number by creating harbors at eight more outposts: Barque Canada Reef, Ladd Reef, Central Reef, Namyit Island, Pearson Reef, Sand Cay, South Reef, and, most recently Tennent Reef, where a new pier has been constructed amidst ongoing dredging inside the reef’s lagoon. This significant increase in port facilities will allow Vietnamese military and law enforcement to operate in greater number and for longer periods of time before returning to shore—the same logistical advantage that China has used to maintain year-round patrols in the Spratlys.
Hanoi’s expansion has also looked to enhance its air capabilities in the Spratlys, which until recently consisted only of one airstrip at Spratly Island too short to accommodate most military aircraft. That bottleneck was removed with the construction of a new 8,000-foot runway at Barque Canada Reef last fall, and additional runways remain possible at other expanding landmasses such as Ladd Reef, Pearson Reef, and Tennent Reef.
Additional hints at how Vietnam intends to use the islands are likely to come soon. With landfill approaching completion at several features, the next phase of Vietnam’s Spratly expansion is likely to include more significant construction of facilities on the islands. That will give observers a better indication as to just what defensive capabilities Hanoi’s new outposts will have.
One observer, in particular, bears watching. Beijing had remained all but silent on Hanoi’s dredging and landfilling operations until February, when Chinese foreign ministry spokesperson Guo Jiakun protested the airstrip being built on Barque Canada Reef. With Vietnam poised to soon begin building even more defense infrastructure on its newly expanded islets, more public reactions from Beijing may prove inevitable.
