Since the start of 2025, Vietnam has expanded its island-building efforts to eight features previously untouched by the current round of reclamation that Hanoi began in 2021. Recent satellite imagery shows that Vietnam has undertaken dredging and landfill work at Alison Reef, Collins Reef, East Reef, Landsdowne Reef, and Petley Reef, all of which had previously housed only small concrete pillbox structures.
Landfill at these five reefs means that all 21 Vietnamese-occupied rocks and low-tide elevations in the Spratly Islands have now been expanded to include artificial land, a stark change from just four years ago when the majority (11) of these reefs hosted only isolated pillbox structures. New expansion has also begun at three features that already hosted medium-sized artificial islands by virtue of earlier rounds of Vietnamese dredging: Amboyna Cay, Grierson Reef, and West Reef.
These efforts build on Hanoi’s already of dredging and landfill activities over the last four years. As of March 2025, Vietnam had created about
as much artificial land in the Spratlys as China had. Reclamation at these eight new features all but ensures that Vietnam will match—and likely surpass—the scale of Beijing’s island-building.
