Vietnam’s island-building work in the Spratlys could reportedly soon surpass that of China’s. But a Philippine Coast Guard spokesperson says Beijing remains the real threat to Manila through its persistent, years-long “bullying” of its vessels — tactics Hanoi has never used against Filipino forces.
PCG spokesperson for the West Philippine Sea Jay Tarriela made the distinction in a lengthy social media post on Thursday, August 28, where he was responding to a retired military officer who urged the government to act on Vietnam’s “presence in the West Philippine Sea.”
“While the Philippines rightfully raises concerns over Vietnam’s reclamation activities, it is critical to recognize that Vietnam has occupied its features for decades,” Tarriela wrote on X. “The status quo is that they occupy those features without any aggressive actions.”
Comparing actions: Vietnam and China
Tarriela laid down what he sees as key differences between Vietnam’s long-standing occupation in the South China Sea and China’s more recent moves in the disputed waters.
Since the 2002 Declaration on the Conduct of Parties in the South China Sea, Vietnam “has not occupied any new features and has never disturbed our presence on our occupied features,” Tarriela said.
Among others, this declaration by the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) committed signatories to refrain from inhabiting previously uninhabited islands and reefs. It also committed them to resolving territorial and jurisdictional disputes by peaceful means.
In contrast, Tarriela pointed to China’s occupation of Mischief Reef since 1995 — a low-tide elevation just 130 nautical miles from Palawan.
Mentioned as well in Tarriela’s explanation is China’s “illegal deployment of maritime forces” in Scarborough Shoal, wherein Beijing has essentially maintained de facto control over the feature since 2012.
Prior to this, since 2002, no country had taken control of previously uninhabited features — a success of the Declaration on the Conduct of Parties, according to analysts. However, China’s seizure of Scarborough Shoal was largely seen as a breach of this declaration, and satellite images show China has engaged in further land reclamation and physical changes on previously uninhabited features in the South China Sea after 2002.
Besides these, the PCG spokesperson also stressed China’s harassment of PCG, fisheries vessels, and fishermen’s boats was “the clearest and most dangerous violations of our sovereignty and sovereign rights.”
Tarriela called De Leon’s stance “misguided” and questioned whether the retired general was advancing narratives that serve Beijing’s interests.
“If your patriotism is genuinely anchored in protecting our fishermen, service members, and our sovereignty and maritime rights, then our focus must be on China,” Tarriela said.
“It is China that has repeatedly bullied our people and endangered the AFP and PCG through aggressive actions—lasers, water cannons, and deliberate ramming,” he added.
What is Vietnam actually doing? Since the start of 2025, Vietnam has reportedly expanded its island-building efforts to eight features previously untouched by the current round of reclamation that began in 2021, according to the Asia Maritime Transparency Initiative.
As of March 2025, Vietnam had created about 70% as much artificial land in the Spratlys as China. The Washington-based think tank said reclamation at these eight new features “all but ensures that Vietnam will match—and likely surpass—the scale of Beijing’s island-building.”
But Tarriela’s explanation of Vietnam’s activities in the South China Sea comes as a coordinated influence operation has been working to do exactly what he warns against — shift focus from China to Vietnam as the main threat in the South China Sea, according to a Philstar.com investigation published this week.
The investigation found that 71 bot accounts on X produced nearly 1,000 identical posts between November 2024 and June 2025, attacking Vietnam for its “destructive” island-building activities while ignoring China’s vastly larger operations.
The bot network frequently targeted Philippine media outlets by replying to old posts from local news organizations with anti-Vietnam scripts. There are also signs that the same network has been used to spread pro-Duterte and anti-Marcos content.
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