Satellite imagery appears to show China is set to reclaim land on another reef in the South China Sea for yet another military base.
Simultaneously, China demonstrated the use of hundreds of fishing boats to support future combat operations against Taiwan.
The coral reef in question is Antelope Reef, located at 16°27’45”N, 111°35’20”E in the Paracel Islands. It is 250 miles east of Hue in Vietnam, and about 175 miles southeast of Sanya Naval Base on China’s Hainan Island.
According to the Asia Maritime Transparency Initiative – AMTI for short – China has military outposts, including sophisticated military bases such as Woody Island, on 20 islands in the Paracels. Beijing seized the Paracel chain from Vietnam in 1974.
Dredging of the eastern and southern edges of the lagoon started after mid-October 2025, and satellite images taken in January 2026 showed substantial changes such as new infrastructure and an access way for roll-on/roll-off berths, Newsweek reported this month. Such works allow the arrival of heavy equipment for dredging and land reclamation.
