Antelope Reef

Antelope Reef (Chinese name: Lingyang Jiao (羚羊礁); Vietnamese name: Đá Hải Sâm) is a small reef in the South China Sea contested by the People's Republic of China, Socialist Republic of Vietnam, and Republic of the Philippines. It is part of the Crescent archipelago in the southwestern portion of the Paracel islands, and is approximately located 162 nautical miles (300 km) from Sanya Port in China's Hainan province and 216 nautical miles (400 km) from Da Nang, Vietnam.^[1]

China has as of April 2026 reclaimed 1,490 acres (600 ha) and greatly expanded its military assets there,^[2][3] part of its claim of much of the South China China (vis. nine-dash line).^[4][5][6] The suddenness and scale of the illegal^[7] seizure and build-up, particularly over a pause of nearly a decade^[1] in such military engineering projects, surprised Western analysts.^[8]