China Seized An Island While The World Is Watching Iran
While the world was watching the islands in the Persian Gulf, China captured an island in the South China Sea without firing a single shot. Beijing’s dredgers are working hard to develop an artificial island 400 kilometers off the coast of Vietnam at astonishing speed. Even more shocking is that the world has largely ignored China’s apparent power grab. Vietnam’s first strong official protest did not occur until March, more than five months after the dredging began. As has been the case in the Philippines for years, China is enforcing the law and openly rehearsing kinetic warfare. The international community must oppose China’s actions on Antelope Reef to avoid another South China Sea crisis and prevent China from gaining a military advantage in a conflict over Taiwan.
China’s Island Building Program Is Rolling Back – And The World Is Ignoring It
Antelope Reef is a marine feature located in the Paracel Islands in the Western Crescent Group. The Paracels have been controlled by China since 1974, when they were captured from South Vietnam. China, Taiwan and Vietnam claim the Antelope Reef. Reports differ as to whether Antelope Reef is a rock or a reef under international law. In either case, it is not an island that can legally establish a 12 nautical mile territorial waters and a 200 nautical mile exclusive economic zone (EEZ). China claims the Antelope Reef due to an unlawful reading of the UN Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS), known as the Constitution of the oceans. Under UNCLOS, the legal status of a feature is frozen in its pre-reclamation state. In other words, China cannot build an island in Antelope Reef and claim sovereign rights over all economic resources in the surrounding EEZ because it is now an island.
When China started working on Antelope Reef three years ago, the world turned a blind eye. In February 2023, the Hainan provincial government opened a tender for the environmental capacity assessment of Antelope Reef. Satellite images showed that dredging began in October 2025. Newsweek first reported on the reef in January 2026, roll-on/roll-off ships. As of February 2026, 22 cutter-suction dredgers were operating on the reef. The activity has already created several square kilometers of new land and more than 15 square kilometers of the reef has seen significant reclamation work. Satellite images also show a flat northwestern edge that could easily accommodate a 30,000-foot airstrip. More than 50 gray-roofed structures can be seen, including a helipad, concrete plant and walkway.
Scallopers violated international law when creating the reef. The fleet had assembled in the Zhujiang River Estuary between Macau and Hong Kong and systematically disabled its automatic identification signal (AIS) transponders before proceeding south. International. The law requires these transponders to protect maritime safety. During the first three months of construction, only one dredger sent an AIS transmission. The construction appears to be carried out by subsidiaries of China Communications Construction Company, a US-approved organization.
China’s Artificial Island Building Program Is Illegal
China’s similar island-building activities were found to be illegal under UNCLOS. Between 2013 and 2015, China engaged in large-scale land reclamation in the Spratly Islands, building seven artificial islands mostly in areas claimed by the Philippines and Vietnam. These outposts have enhanced China’s intelligence and surveillance capabilities, enhanced its presence and sovereignty claims, and increased its operational advantages. China’s artificial island-building program also violates its neighbors’ sovereign rights in their EEZs. In 2016, in a landmark arbitration decision between the Philippines and China, an arbitral tribunal ruled that large-scale dredging leading to extensive coral reef destruction violated China’s obligations under UNCLOS Chapter XII to protect and preserve the marine environment, including duties to prevent, reduce and control pollution and ecosystem damage.
China’s justification for its construction on Antelope Reef mirrors what it said about the Spratlys before and after the arbitration. In 2015, China’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs said the construction of artificial islands was aimed at “optimizing their functions, improving the living and working conditions of personnel serving there, and better protecting territorial sovereignty and maritime rights and interests.” In 2017, a spokesman said the purpose of building the facilities was to improve the living and working conditions of the personnel working there and to better defend sovereignty. Now, in 2026, China’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs said on March 23 that the Paracels are China’s “natural territory over which there are no disputes” and that “necessary construction on our own territory is aimed at improving living and working conditions on the islands and growing the local economy.” China is recasting its construction as routine internal management. It deflects questions about sovereignty by focusing on civilian use and establishing civilian presence. China is now making similar arguments about its recently constructed facilities. structures In the Yellow Sea.
Why Is China’s Antelope Reef Base Important?
Chinese declared The 2016 decision is “null and void” and a piece of “waste paper”. But for a while it stopped building new islands in the South China Sea; After the fortification, he stopped construction in the Spratlys, and the final construction on Antelope Reef was the first significant island construction. since then 2017 – and a huge increase in the island-building campaign. China is showing the world that it can build islands much faster than before and is demonstrating its capabilities against possible future situations. The reclaimed land of Antelope Reef is on its way to becoming the largest artificial island in the South China Sea. China maintained for a time that it was not militarizing the Spratlys, but made no statement about militarizing the Antelope Reef. The lagoon at Antelope Reef will be large enough for a large coast guard and maritime militia presence, giving fleets a formidable base in the Paracels. Antelope Reef is about 300 kilometers from the People’s Liberation Army’s Southern Sea Fleet’s submarine base in Sanya Port. Force buildup on Antelope Reef can strengthen China’s ability to deter US reconnaissance operations and target submarines around the base.
As the tenth anniversary of the South China Sea arbitration approaches, the international community needs to pressure China to comply with international law. U.S. freedom of navigation operations in the Paracels must continue. But illegally circumnavigating an island will not prevent it from being built. Law-abiding states should oppose China’s illegal behavior. Coordinated diplomatic statements and media campaigns by South China Sea neighboring states, supported by the United States, Japan, Australia and Europe, could put China on the defensive. Past transparency initiatives have slowed or stopped China’s illegal actions. They also oppose China’s rhetoric that attempts to portray its actions in the region as legal. The United States could also lead targeted economic pressure on China Communications Construction Company and other entities involved in China’s illegal construction. Ships that do not broadcast an AIS signal can be boarded under suitable conditions.
China may also be held legally responsible for its illegal behavior. Vietnam should consider carefully scoped arbitration under UNCLOS, with international support. The situation is complicated by the fact that Hanoi has begun its own dredging activities in the South China Sea. But a case focusing on China’s violation of Vietnam’s rights in its EEZ and the environmental destruction of the reef would be on strong legal ground.
There is a 2016 decision deterred Some of China’s illegal behavior has shaped state behavior in the South China Sea ever since. Highlighting the decision and reinforcing it with a second trial will increase the legitimacy of the decision and strengthen China’s status as a rogue actor in the region. The world needs to take action against China’s illegal actions before concrete treatments can be found.
This article was first published on: Forbes.com
