While the world is looking at islands in the Persian Gulf, China has not fired on an island in the South China Sea. Dredgers in Beijing are working hard to develop an artificial island 400 kilometers off the coast of Vietnam with astonishing speed. Even more surprising is that the world has remained largely silent on China’s moves. Vietnam’s first strong formal protest did not come until March, more than five months after the dredging began. As in the Philippines for years, China is running the law and practicing kinetic warfare in plain sight. The international community must counter China’s actions in the Antelope Reef to avoid another crisis in the South China Sea and to prevent China from gaining military advantage in the conflict over Taiwan.
China’s island-building program backs off — and the world ignores it
Antelope Reef is a marine feature in the Paracel Islands of the Western Crescent Group. The Paracels have been under Chinese control since 1974, when it seized them from South Vietnam. Antelope Reef is claimed by China, Taiwan and Vietnam. Reports differ on whether Antelope Reef is a reef or a reef under international law. However, it is not an island that would legally generate a 12-nautical-mile territorial sea and a 200-nautical-mile exclusive economic zone (EEZ). China claims the Antelope Reef under an illegal reading of the UN Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS), known as the Constitution of the Ocean. Under UNCLOS, the legal status of a facility is fixed in its pre-restoration state. In other words, China cannot build an island on Antelope Reef and then claim that, because it is now an island, China has sovereign rights over all economic resources around the EEZ.
Three years ago, when China started working on the Antelope Reef, the world ignored it. In February 2023, the Hainan Provincial Government issued a tender for the Environmental Capacity Assessment of Antelope Reef. Satellite imagery showed that dredging began in October 2025. In January 2026, Newsweek first reported construction on the reef with berths for roll-on/roll-off ships. As of February 2026, 22 cutter-suction dredgers were working on the reef. While the activity has already created several square kilometers of new land, significant recovery can be seen on more than 15 square kilometers of reef. Satellite imagery also shows a straight northwest edge that could easily accommodate a 9,000-foot airstrip. More than 50 gray-roofed structures are visible, including a helipad, concrete plant and causeway.
The dredgers violated international law when building the reef. The fleet assembled in the Zhujiang River estuary between Macau and Hong Kong, and then systematically deactivated their Automatic Identification Signal (AIS) transponders before proceeding south. International. The law requires these transponders to maintain maritime security. Only one dredging vessel sent an AIS transmission during the first three months of construction. It appears to be being built by subsidiaries of the China Communication Construction Company, an organization sanctioned by the United States.
China’s artificial island building program is illegal
China’s similar island-building activities have been found illegal under UNCLOS. Between 2013 and 2015, China engaged in extensive land reclamation in the Spratly Islands, building seven artificial islands, mostly in areas claimed by the Philippines and Vietnam. These outposts have improved China’s intelligence and surveillance capabilities, enhanced its presence and sovereignty claims, and enhanced its operational advantages. China’s artificial island-building program has also violated its neighbors’ sovereign rights in their EEZs. In 2016, in a landmark arbitral award between the Philippines and China, an arbitral tribunal ruled that large-scale coral reef destruction violated China’s obligations under UNCLOS Part XII to protect and preserve the marine environment, prevent, mitigate and control pollution.
China’s justification for its construction on Antelope Reef echoes what it said about the Spratlys before and after the arbitration. In 2015, China’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs stated that the purpose of the construction of the artificial islands was to “optimize their functions, improve the living and working conditions of the personnel working there, better protect territorial sovereignty and maritime rights and interests”. In 2017, a spokesperson said that the purpose of building the facilities was to improve living and working conditions for the personnel working there and to better protect its sovereignty. Now, in 2026, China’s Foreign Ministry said on March 23 that the Paracels are China’s “vested territory, which has no dispute” and that “necessary construction on our own land is aimed at improving living and working conditions on the islands and developing the local economy.” China is reframing its construction as a regular domestic regime. It is addressing questions of sovereignty by focusing on civic use and establishing civic presence. China has been making similar arguments about its recent construction in the Yellow Sea.
Why China’s Antelope Reef Base Matters
China declared the 2016 decision “null and void” and a piece of “festive paper”. For a while, however, it stopped building new islands in the South China Sea — it halted construction in the Spratlys after the arbitration, and the recent construction on Antelope Reef is the first significant island-building since 2017 — and a major escalation of its island-building campaign. China is showing the world that it can build islands faster than ever before, revealing its capacity for any future contingencies. Antelope Reef’s reclaimed land makes it the largest artificial island in the South China Sea. For some time China has said it is not militarizing the Spratlys, but it has made no bones about militarizing Antelope Reef. The size of Antelope Reef’s lagoon makes it large enough for a large Coast Guard and Marine militia presence, giving those fleets a powerful base in the Paracels. Antelope Reef is about 300 kilometers from the submarine base of the People’s Liberation Army South Sea Fleet in the port of Sanya. A military build-up on Antelope Reef could strengthen China’s ability to intercept US reconnaissance operations and target submarines around the base.
As the tenth anniversary of the South China Sea Arbitration approaches, the international community must press China to comply with international law. US freedom of navigation operations in the Paracels should continue. But sailing around an illegal island doesn’t prevent it from being built. Law-abiding states must call out China’s illegal behavior. A coordinated diplomatic rhetoric and media campaign from neighboring states in the South China Sea, backed by the United States, Japan, Australia and Europe, could put China on the defensive. Past transparency initiatives have slowed or stopped China’s illegal activities. They also oppose China’s narrative in the region, which seeks to portray its actions as legal. The United States could lead economic pressure targeting China Communications Construction Co. and other entities involved in illegal construction in China. Vessels not transmitting AIS signals may, under appropriate circumstances, be boarded.
China can be held legally accountable for its illegal behavior. Vietnam should consider a carefully scoped arbitration under UNCLOS, with international support. Hanoi is involved in its own dredging in the South China Sea, complicating its case. However, a case centered on China’s violation of Vietnam’s rights in its EEZ and environmental destruction of reefs will stand on strong legal grounds.
The 2016 decision deterred some of China’s illicit behavior and has shaped state behavior in the South China Sea ever since. Upholding the decision, and reinforcing it with a second lawsuit, would reinforce its legitimacy and cement China’s position as a rogue actor in the region. The world must act to counter China’s illegal actions before taking concrete measures.
This article was originally published on Forbes.com
