Vietnam pursues ties with Beijing while fortifying South China Sea positions

New images released by the Washington-based Centre for Strategic and International Studies show that Vietnam is laying a runway about 2.4km long in the South China Sea and could build two more airstrips.

- Tan Hui Yee

The Oct 30 report by the centre's Asia Maritime Transparency Initiative (AMTI) further noted that signs of potential military structures have appeared on several features in the strategic waterway, which is claimed by several countries, including China.

Analysts note that Vietnam's installations pale in comparison to what China - which claims almost the entire South China Sea - has built in the contested waterway. Still, it means Hanoi's claims are backed by a credible and growing military capability.

According to an AMTI report on June 7, Vietnam's dredging and landfill has created approximately 955ha in the South China Sea - roughly half of what China has built.

China's islands are said to house missile systems, laser and jamming equipment as well as fighter jets - something which analysts say Vietnam, with fewer means, is still trying to play catch-up on.

"Three years from when it first began, Vietnam is still surprising observers with the ever-increasing scope of its dredging and landfill in the Spratly Islands. Its progress in the last five months suggests that Hanoi is determined to maximise the strategic potential of the features it occupies," the AMTI report said.

China asserts its claims over the South China Sea with a growing navy, coast guard and maritime militia.

"Vietnam has its own analogue to that as well, albeit on a smaller scale," said Dr Collin Koh, a senior fellow at the Institute of Defence and Strategic Studies at the S. Rajaratnam School of International Studies.