China finishes first phase of island building at Antelope Reef

China has completed the first phase of land reclamation at Antelope Reef in the Paracels archipelago, according to satellite imagery reviewed by Varta Wire. The images, taken on July 19 by commercial provider Vantor, show a man-made island roughly 6 kilometers long, with barges and dredgers having departed after at least six months of work.

The new island features a straight coastline exceeding 3 kilometers, which some analysts believe could accommodate a runway. A 680-meter wharf fronts a deep-water harbor, and one image shows a coast guard vessel moored alongside. Construction of buildings, including a helicopter pad, has begun in the island's southeast corner.

Analysts say the location is strategically significant. "The northern part of the South China Sea would be particularly important in a Taiwan conflict scenario, so Antelope is ideally placed," said Ben Lewis, founder of the open-source platform PLATracker. He suggested the reef could become one of the Chinese military's most important features in the region, larger than neighboring Woody Island and easier to defend than bases in the Spratlys.

China has not acknowledged military construction at the site. State media have described the project as serving civilian purposes such as weather forecasting and scientific research. In a June opinion piece in China Daily, scholar Ding Duo called the work "modest" and "peaceful and constructive."

Regional security analysts and military attaches view the development differently, seeing it as a move to strengthen China's military hold on the northern waterway. The Washington-based Center for Strategic and International Studies reported this week that excavation for a new runway may have already begun.

Open-source tracker Damien Symon, who first flagged dredging at the reef in January, said he spotted initial signs of work last December. The island could also support protected "bastions" for China's nuclear-armed submarines, said Singapore-based security scholar Collin Koh, potentially complicating submarine operations for the United States and Vietnam.

China has occupied the Paracels since 1974, when it expelled the navy of former South Vietnam. Vietnam, which claims the entire archipelago, said in March it "resolutely opposes such actions." The Vietnamese foreign ministry did not immediately respond to requests for comment.

Once complete, the facilities would enhance China's ability to monitor US and allied forces in peacetime and add complexity in any conflict, said Carl Thayer, a professor at the Australian Defence Force Academy. "It's one more thing the United States would have to take care of," he said.