China Expands Land on Antelope Reef in South China Sea

China has transformed Antelope Reef, a small atoll in the South China Sea off Vietnam, by sending dredging ships in late 2025 to pump sand from the lagoon onto the reef. By April this year satellite images showed new jetties, roads and a helipad on the feature that previously had only a handful of Chinese fishermen living in huts made from shells and coral.

Much of the atoll was underwater at high tide before the work began. The atoll's horseshoe shape could allow for one of the longest air bases in the Paracel Islands, which are contested by China, Vietnam and Taiwan. The expansion mirrors work China has done at Mischief Reef in the Spratly Islands where it has created what appear to be military installations.

Islands and atolls across the Indian and Pacific oceans have long held military importance. During World War II the United States engaged in island-hopping campaigns after the 1941 Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor, with engineers building airstrips and bases across locations including the Solomon Islands, New Caledonia and Vanuatu.

Many of those bases were decommissioned after the war though some remained in use. Guam, seized from Japan in 1944, continues to host U.S. military forces including nuclear-powered submarines and several thousand troops. The island is an unincorporated U.S. territory whose residents use the U.S. dollar but cannot vote in presidential elections.

base used for missile testing under a Compact of Free Association.

The United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea grants states exclusive rights over marine resources up to 200 nautical miles from their coasts. Islands that remain above water at all times and can sustain human habitation generate the largest zones though many South China Sea features are submerged at high tide making their legal status disputed.