US think-tank: China, Vietnam biggest destroyers of South China Sea reef

Asia Maritime Transparency Initiative said that dredging and landfills had caused “irreparable damage” to the marine habitat.
RFA staff
2025.01.31
US think-tank: China, Vietnam biggest destroyers of South China Sea reef An aerial view of dredging activities at Vietnam-occupied Pearson Reef, Oct. 27, 2023.
Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS)/Asia Maritime Transparency Initiative (AMTI)/MAXAR Technologies

UPDATED at 4:52 p.m. ET on 2025-01-31

Rivals in the South China Sea developing artificial islands to back up their claims have destroyed nearly 28.3 square kilometers of coral reefs, with China responsible for the most damage followed by Vietnam, according to a United States think-tank.

The total area destroyed increased to 7,000 acres (3.2 square kilometers) from 6,200 acres (25 square km) at the end of 2023, Asia Maritime Transparency Initiative (AMTI) said in a new report.

“China has caused the most reef destruction, having buried roughly 4,648 acres (18.8 square km) of reef since 2013,” AMTI said.

Vietnam was responsible for the second-most amount of destruction, at approximately 2,362 acres (9.5 square km), most of which occurred in 2024.

China and Vietnam destroyed 65% and 33% of reef, respectively, AMTI said.

Government agencies in the two countries were not available for comment on the report due to the Lunar New Year holiday.

AMTI, which is affiliated to the Center for Strategic and International Studies in Washington, analyzed island building activities of rival claimants, including China, Vietnam, Malaysia, Taiwan and the Philippines, using commercial satellite imagery.

It said that dredging and landfills had caused “irreparable damage” to the marine habitat, as well as long-term changes to the overall structure and health of reefs in the South China Sea.

Malaysia, Taiwan and the Philippines together accounted for less than 3% of the damage.

In a December 2023 report, AMTI said that in addition to island building, giant clam harvesting by Chinese fishermen damaged another 16,353 acres (66.1 square km) of coral reef.

RFA-2.jpg
Giant clams marked and collected for harvesting by Beijing’s militia are piled in the South China Sea’s Scarborough Shoal, Feb. 27, 2019. (Philippine Coast Guard)

According to AMTI, Manila planned to initiate a second legal challenge against Beijing over environmental destruction in the West Philippine Sea, or the part of the South China Sea within the exclusive economic zone of the Philippines, where it has jurisdiction over natural resources in the water and the seabed.

The Marcos administration in the Philippines, however, has yet to decide on a venue for the lawsuit.


RELATED STORIES

South China Sea coral reefs under severe threat: report

Experts weigh chance of success in new South China Sea case against Beijing

Philippines suspends South China Sea science mission after China ‘harassment’


Pre-emptive counter strike

In 2016, the Philippines won an arbitration case against China under the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea, or UNCLOS, but Beijing refused to acknowledge the ruling.

AMTI’s director, Greg Poling, suggested that Manila could file a resolution with the U.N. General Assembly demanding compliance with the 2016 arbitration, and another one seeking an advisory opinion from the International Court of Justice in The Hague on issues such as whether China’s behavior violates international treaties.

As with the 2016 case, the Philippines would have to rely mostly on its own efforts as the Southeast Asian bloc ASEAN’s non-interference principle would prevent other countries in the region from intervening, said Philippine maritime legal expert Jay Batongbacal. The Association of Southeast Asian Nations’ member-states agree that they should solve their own domestic issues.

Four ASEAN countries – Brunei, Malaysia, the Philippines and Vietnam – have claims that overlap with those of China's expansive ones in the South China Sea. ASEAN member-state Indonesia, meanwhile, often has to contend with Chinese forays in its exclusive economic zone in the North Natuna Sea, parts of which Beijing also claims.

For its part, China seemed to have been “trying to counter the Philippines’ complaints against their environmentally damaging activities since last year,” the expert told Radio Free Asia, an affiliate of BenarNews.

Researcher Dinh Kim Phuc said that despite the environmental damage, Vietnam’s actions “must happen” and are necessary for “strategic defense.”

“We cannot place protection of the marine environment alone,” he told RFA. “We must place it with overall regional security. As long as China does not give up its intention to occupy the entire South China Sea, the sea environment will continue to be destroyed to serve many different purposes.”

China’s coast guard held a special maritime law enforcement briefing on Sunday, during which it accused other claimant countries of damaging the ecosystems in the South China Sea even as it praised its own efforts in the area.

Such public briefings could serve as a pre-emptive counter strike against Manila’s plan, Batongbacal said.

The China Coast Guard spokesperson, Liu Dejun, spoke with the Global Times newspaper, which is a unit of the Communist Party of China's mouthpiece People's Daily, about Beijing's 2024 crackdown on a slew of violations. He said Chinese law enforcement had detained more than 500 foreign vessels and confiscated 15 of them for violations including illegal fishing, illegal waste disposal, and hunting of precious and endangered wildlife.

A foreign fishing vessel was caught poaching coral, with more than 1,200 live coral specimens and large quantities of giant clam shells seized, Liu said without identifying the country that the ship came from.

This report was updated to include a comment by Dinh Kim Phuc.

POST A COMMENT

Add your comment by filling out the form below in plain text. Comments are approved by a moderator and can be edited in accordance with RFAs Terms of Use. Comments will not appear in real time. RFA is not responsible for the content of the postings. Please, be respectful of others' point of view and stick to the facts.

COMMENTS

Johnny
Feb 01, 2025 01:26 PM

They are both destroying the vary ecosystem each of their countries rely on to survive.

Mary Lassner
Feb 06, 2025 07:05 PM

Sadly, beauty destroyed can't be undone.