Land reclamation sweepstakes

Under a major expansion plan in the disputed South China Sea, Vietnam has nearly doubled its newly reclaimed areas in one year, according to a report by the Asia Maritime Transparency Initiative, a unit of the U.S. Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS), a Washington think-tank.

Vietnam's addition of 330 acres (9133.5 hectares) of land in the Spratly archipelago over the past year and 420 acres (170 hectares) reclaimed in 2022 is just a quarter of the land created by China in its huge expansion a decade ago. Hanoi is second only to China in land reclamation among multiple claimants in the contested waters.