Chinese state-backed engineers have spent eight months completing the foundations of a new military base in the contested South China Sea under the constant watch of U.S. satellites. Work to turn the once submerged Antelope Reef into
China’s next permanent military complex in the disputed Paracel archipelago—also claimed by
Vietnam—began last fall, just months after President
Donald Trump’s return to the White House.
U.S. administrations including Trump’s own once were highly critical of China’s strategy of formalizing longstanding maritime claims via rapid land reclamation. Today, Beijing’s island-building campaign is accelerating with apparent impunity for the first time in a decade.
