The Daily Populous Tuesday August 26th, 2025 night edition
Authored by amp.scmp.com and submitted by AndroidOne1

Beijing has vowed to defend its maritime rights after a US report that Vietnam has sped up its island-building efforts in the contested Spratly Islands this year.

In a report on Friday, the Asia Maritime Transparency Initiative (AMTI), part of the Washington-based Centre for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS), said Vietnam had ramped up construction on multiple reefs in 2025.

Responding to the report on Monday, Chinese foreign ministry spokesman Guo Jiakun said the islands “are China’s inherent territory”.

“We firmly oppose construction activities by the relevant country on illegally occupied reefs and will take necessary measures to safeguard our territorial sovereignty and maritime rights,” Guo added.

The Spratlys, known as the Nansha Islands in China, are claimed by various countries, including Vietnam and China, and are a flashpoint in the South China Sea , one of the world’s busiest trade routes.

According to the report, since the start of this year Vietnam has expanded its island-building to eight features previously untouched by its current reclamation programme, which began in 2021.

UnlikelyOpposite7478 on August 25th, 2025 at 22:23 UTC »

Every headline from the South China Sea honestly feels like season twelve of some soap opera that never ends, where the same characters keep fighting over the same plot of land, except here it is not even land most of the time, it is just rocks sticking out of the water at low tide. China declares eternal rights, Vietnam builds new outposts, the Philippines files another complaint, and the United States shows up like the nosy neighbor with binoculars. Each episode promises a dramatic twist but the script always circles back to the same shouting match about history, sovereignty, and who gets to fish or drill where. Meanwhile the rest of us are like exhausted viewers who lost track of the storyline years ago but still get dragged in because global trade routes pass through this watery stage.

AndroidOne1 on August 25th, 2025 at 15:47 UTC »

Snippet from this article: Beijing has vowed to defend its maritime rights after a US report that Vietnam has sped up its island-building efforts in the contested Spratly Islands this year. In a report on Friday, the Asia Maritime Transparency Initiative (AMTI), part of the Washington-based Centre for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS), said Vietnam had ramped up construction on multiple reefs in 2025. Responding to the report on Monday, Chinese foreign ministry spokesman Guo Jiakun said the islands “are China’s inherent territory”. “We firmly oppose construction activities by the relevant country on illegally occupied reefs and will take necessary measures to safeguard our territorial sovereignty and maritime rights,” Guo added.