中國正在海上打造下一個前哨

Recently the New York Times reported the following:

Antelope Reef in South China Sea (Source: The NYT)

How China Is Building Its Next Outpost at Sea

The NYT - By Lily Kuo and Agnes Chang (Tung Ngo and Pei-Lin Wu contributed reporting)

 April 22, 2026

Over the last few months, China has been quietly and quickly building an island in disputed waters off the coast of Vietnam that will help Beijing continue to dominate one of the most crucial waterways in the world. China claims about 90 percent of the South China Sea, including parts that are also claimed by several Southeast Asian countries.

Satellite imagery going back to November shows Chinese dredgers building a crescent-shaped island on Antelope Reef in the Paracels, a cluster of islands and reefs where China, Taiwan and Vietnam have competing claims.

By April, the edges of the island had been shaped and jetties, a helipad and unpaved roads were visible. It was almost twice the size of New York’s Central Park and appeared to still be under construction.

Analysts say that given its size and the ongoing expansion, Antelope Reef is likely to become one of China’s largest military outposts in the region. Such islands typically have airstrips, radar, electronic warfare facilities and missile bunkers. The bases support China’s Navy and Air Force, helping them operate farther from China’s mainland. China’s Coast Guard and maritime militia, made up of thousands of civilian fishing boats that help assert Beijing’s presence in the waters, use them too.

Analysts tracking China’s island-building activities were surprised to see the new construction because China already had several outposts in contested waters and had largely stopped major construction of such artificial islands.

“The strategic logic of it is not super obvious,” said Harrison Prétat, deputy director and fellow with the Asia Maritime Transparency Initiative at the Center for Strategic and International Studies. “The sense was they don’t need anything else,” he said.

Between 2013 and 2017, China built or expanded more than 20 military outposts in the South China Sea that are able to house troops. That included three larger military bases across the Spratly Islands — a chain more than 900 miles from the Chinese mainland, but within 300 miles of the Philippine coast — and one in the Paracels. The island-building campaign, which was unprecedented in its scope and speed, prompted international condemnation and damaged China’s ties with its Southeast Asian neighbors as well as the United States.

Mr. Prétat said the latest construction could be a response to Vietnam, which has for the last two years reclaimed land and built military facilities on the islets that it controls in the Spratlys.

More important may be that compared with his predecessors, President Trump appears to be less focused on deterring China’s militarization of the South China Sea. “I think there’s a larger question of: Did they think they could get away with it?” Mr. Prétat said.

Antelope Reef is now one of China’s biggest islands in the region, similar in size to its largest outpost on Mischief Reef in the Spratlys.

Vietnam claims the entirety of the Paracels, which have been under Beijing's control since China seized them in 1974. Hanoi has protested China’s construction at Antelope as “completely illegal and invalid."

But Beijing insists that the Paracels are China’s “inherent territory.” Asked about the buildup at Antelope Reef last month, Lin Jian, a spokesman with China’s foreign ministry, said that any construction was simply aimed at “improving living and working conditions on the islands and growing the local economy.”

Translation

中國正在海上打造下一個前哨

過去幾個月，中國一直在越南沿海爭議水域悄悄快速地建造一座人工島，這將有助於北京繼續主導世界上最重要的水道之一。中國聲稱擁有南海約90%的主權，其中包括一些東南亞國家也聲稱擁有主權的部分海域。

早在去年11月，衛星影像就顯示，中國挖泥船正在西沙群島的羚羊礁上建造一座新月形人工島。西沙群島是島嶼和礁石群，中國、台灣和越南三國都聲稱擁有它的主權的。

今年4月，人工島的邊緣已經成型，防波堤、直升機停機坪和未鋪設的道路也清晰可見。這座人工島的面積幾乎是紐約中央公園的兩倍，而且似乎仍在建設中。

分析師指出，鑑於羚羊礁的規模及其持續擴張，它很可能成為中國在該地區最大的軍事前哨之一。這類島嶼通常配備簡易機場、雷達、電子戰設施和飛彈掩體。這些基地為中國海軍和空軍提供支持，幫助它們在遠離中國大陸的地區進行活動。由數千艘民用漁船組成的中國海警和海上民兵（旨在維護北京在該水域的存在）也使用這些基地。

追蹤中國島礁建設活動的分析人士對羚羊礁的新建工程感到驚訝，因為中國已經在爭議水域擁有多個前哨基地，並且基本上停止了此類人工島礁的大規模建設。

戰略與國際研究中心亞洲海事透明倡議 副主任兼研究員Harrison Prétat表示，“其戰略邏輯並不十分明顯” 。他又表示“感覺上，他們似乎不需要其他任何東西了。”

2013年至2017年間，中國在南海建造或擴建了20多個可駐紮軍隊的軍事基地。其中包括在南沙群島（距中國大陸900多英里，但距菲律賓海岸300英里以內）的三個大型軍事基地，以及在西沙群島的一個基地。這場規模和速度都史無前例的島礁建設行動引發了國際社會的譴責，並損害了中國與其東南亞鄰國以及美國的關係。

Prétat先生表示，最新的建設可能是對越南的回應。過去兩年，越南一直在其控制的南沙群島島礁上填海造陸並建造軍事設施。

更重要的是，特朗普總統與他的前任相比，似乎不太關注遏制中國在南海的軍事化。 Prétat先生說: 「我認為更大的問題是：他們是否認為可以瞞天過海嗎？」

羚羊礁如今已成為中國在該地區最大的島嶼之一，面積與中國在南沙群島美濟礁的最大前哨基地相仿。

越南聲稱對整個西沙群島擁有主權，而西沙群島自1974年被中國佔領以來一直處於北京的控制之下。河內方面抗議中國在羚羊礁的建設並稱其「完全非法無效」。

但北京方面堅稱西沙群島是中國的「固有領土」。上個月，當被問及羚羊礁的建設時，中國外交部官員Lin Jian表示，任何建設都只是為了「改善島上居民的生活和工作條件，促進當地經濟發展」。

So, over the last few months, China has been quietly and quickly building an island in disputed waters off the coast of Vietnam that will help Beijing continue to dominate one of the most crucial waterways in the world. It seems that compared with his predecessors, President Trump appears to be less focused on deterring China’s militarization of the South China Sea. Apparently, Trump is busy in dealing matter in Cuba, Ukraine and Iran.