MANILA, Philippines — While the Philippines and China were busy wrangling over disputed islands and reefs in the South China Sea, Vietnam quietly expanded its territory by building islands, a report said.

The Washington-based independent think tank Asia Maritime Transparency Initiative (AMTI) said that in the last six months, Vietnam has created almost as much new land in its outposts in the South China Sea as it had in the previous two years combined.

The AMTI said this puts Vietnam on pace for a record year of island building in 2024.

Based on the report, since November 2023, Vietnam has created 280 hectares of land across 10 features in the South China Sea, almost half the area that China has built up throughout the years.

In comparison, it created 163.5 hectares of land in the first 11 months of 2023 and 138.4 hectares in 2022.

Several features which Vietnam has expanded are claimed by some countries including the Philippines.

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