Commentary: China is remaking the South China Sea with a return to island-building

Government

A new Chinese outpost at Antelope Reef won’t create legal rights but will shape control over disputed waters, says a maritime law professor from Western Sydney University. SYDNEY: After nearly a decade of relative pause, China has resumed large-scale island-building in the South China Sea.  Satellite images of Antelope Reef in the Paracel Islands show a once-submerged feature rapidly transformed into what could become one of Beijing’s largest outposts in the region. It signals a renewed