Vietnam has continued to expand land reclamation on its occupied features in the South China Sea, with military-related construction of new ports and airstrips, according to a Chinese think tank.
Citing satellite images, the Beijing-based South China Sea Probing Initiative (SCSPI) said on Friday that the Southeast Asian nation had reclaimed nearly 0.78 sq km (0.3 square miles) of land on 11 features in the contested Spratly Islands, known as the Nansha Islands in China, over the past six months.
China and Vietnam have rival territorial claims in the South China Sea.
In total, Vietnam has reclaimed over 8.5 sq km of new land on these features since October 2021, according to a social media post by the think tank.
Vietnam has also stepped up construction of military-related facilities, such as harbour basins, wharves and runways, the think tank said in a separate post on Chinese social media.
It said Vietnam was building an airstrip on Barque Canada Reef that is expected to be about 3,000 metres (9,843 feet) long when completed. It added that sandbars that could accommodate runways had also been built on four features, including Pearson Reef, Tennent Reef, Ladd Reef and South Reef.
South Reef is a rock in the Spratly Islands located only 50km (31 miles) north of the China-controlled Subi Reef.
