How Vietnam Quietly Built up 10 Islands in Asia’s Most Disputed Sea

Vietnam is upgrading islets to make them harder for China to take without a cost, not for offensive military use, Asia Maritime Transparency Initiative Director Gregory Poling said.

“The Vietnamese endgame seems to be making these facilities more survivable, raising the cost for the Chinese to try to take them,” he said.

China normally leaves Vietnam alone at sea because they have shown a willingness to “bump shoulders” with Chinese vessels if pushed, he said.

Source: VOANews.

"China showed no unusual resistance to Vietnam’s “modest upgrades” to its facilities in the Spratly Islands in the South China Sea contrary to how it responded to the Philippines’ rehabilitation efforts, analysts have observed."

Vietnam occupies 49 outposts spread across 27 features in the contested Spratly Islands, while the Philippines has 9.

“Vietnam continues quietly upgrading its facilities across the Spratlys, so far without provoking the same large-scale paramilitary response from China as Philippine upgrades have,” Washington think-tank Asia Maritime Transparency Initiative said in its latest report on the South China Sea.

From the Inquirer: Unlike PH, Vietnam’s ‘modest upgrades’ in Spratlys get no repulse from China

South China Sea: Indonesia And Vietnam Prove Duterte Wrong

...standing up to China doesn’t lead to war.

UPDATE:  Indonesian navy fires shots, seizes Chinese fishing boat near disputed South China Sea