Unlike its escalating clashes with the Philippines in other disputed waters, China has chosen a different reaction to Vietnam’s reclamation efforts in the Spratly Islands, says Collin Koh of the S Rajaratnam School of International Studies. SINGAPORE: The scale of Vietnam’s island-building programme in the South China Sea has been a major revelation. Its reclamation efforts will possibly “match – and likely surpass” the scale of China’s own effort, according to a US think tank in August.  The