China's warning, Vietnam does not listen! Vietnam continues to build artificial islands in the South China Sea! On August 23, according to foreign media reports, a U.S. think tank said that Vietnam has significantly expanded its land reclamation projects in the disputed Spratly Islands (China's Nansha Islands) in the South China Sea, with the scale catching up or even possibly surpassing China's. A report from the Washington-based Center for Strategic and International Studies said that recent satellite images show that since the beginning of this year, Vietnam has expanded its land reclamation to eight reefs that had not been affected by land reclamation before.
Foreign media stated that Vietnam has carried out dredging and reclamation work on the relevant reefs, and all 21 rocky outcrops and low-tide elevations occupied by Vietnam in the Nansha Islands have now been expanded, including artificial land. Four years ago, most of these rocky outcrops and low-tide elevations were just isolated bastions. Obviously, despite our repeated warnings and pressure on Vietnam to stop activities on the relevant reefs, Vietnam completely ignores our warnings.
Why is Vietnam doing this? First, it is obvious that Vietnam is trying to expand its so-called "sovereignty" through land reclamation, and further covet fishery resources and undersea oil and gas resources within our territory. Second, in the context of the United States' intention to incite disputes in the South China Sea, Vietnam is clearly taking advantage of the situation to put pressure on us and show loyalty to the United States. However, we can clearly see that Vietnam's strategy is completely different from that of the Philippines.
On one hand, Vietnam's land reclamation in the relevant waters is done without publicizing it; on the other hand, Vietnam has not taken a coordinated stance with the Philippines, nor is its position as intense as the Philippines', especially Vietnam has not publicly stood with the United States to openly provoke. Undoubtedly, this strategy of Vietnam has increased the difficulty for us to safeguard our own interests, making the handling of such disputes more challenging.
Original source: www.toutiao.com/article/1841212173423627/
Statement: This article represents the views of the author.