By Dumping Tonnes of Sand into the Ocean for 12 Years, China Has Created Brand New Islands from Scratch

Imagine looking out over the South China Sea and seeing islands that weren’t there a decade ago. That’s exactly what’s happening. For 12 years, China has been dredging millions of tonnes of sand from the seabed and dumping it onto shallow reefs. The result? Massive artificial islands with runways, harbors, and even radar systems — entirely built from scratch.
It’s an extraordinary engineering achievement. But it’s also a deeply controversial story that touches on geopolitics, environmental damage, and international law.
How Do You Build an Island From the Ocean?
The process is intense, complicated, and massive in scale. Specialized ships called cutter-suction dredgers scoop up sand and crushed coral from the seabed. That slurry is pumped through pipelines onto reefs, layer by layer, until the area rises above the high-tide line.
Once land starts forming, engineers reinforce it with rock and concrete to protect it from storms. Roads, runways, and harbors soon appear, along with radar and communication systems. What was once just a coral reef becomes a fully functional island capable of hosting military aircraft and ships.
From a technical standpoint, it’s impressive. From an environmental and geopolitical standpoint, it’s far more complex.
Why These Islands Matter
The South China Sea is one of the most strategic waterways in the world. About one-third of global maritime shipping passes through here every year, and the sea is rich in oil, gas, and fish.
Several countries — including Vietnam, the Philippines, Malaysia, Brunei, and Taiwan — have claims in the region. China, however, claims almost the entire South China Sea under the so-called “nine-dash line.” Artificial islands give China a physical presence in contested waters, turning submerged reefs into military and logistical hubs.
Once an island has a runway or a port, it changes the balance of power. It’s no longer just sand; it’s a foothold that can influence maritime traffic, regional security, and international diplomacy.
From Coral Gardens to Concrete Islands
There’s a darker side to this story. These islands are built on coral reefs — ecosystems that took thousands of years to form. Dredging and dumping sand destroys these reefs almost instantly.
Sediment plumes cloud the water, smothering coral and blocking sunlight. Fish nurseries vanish, and entire marine ecosystems collapse. Nearby fishing communities in countries like the Philippines and Vietnam report lower catches as fish populations decline. What was once a thriving marine environment becomes, for many species, a barren landscape.
Geopolitical Tensions
Artificial islands aren’t just about sand and concrete; they’re about power projection. Once they host ports, airstrips, and radar systems, they act like permanent military outposts in the middle of contested waters.
Even after a 2016 international tribunal ruled that China’s expansive claims were legally invalid, Beijing continued construction. Its neighbors are responding: Vietnam has built its own artificial islands, and the U.S. conducts freedom-of-navigation operations to challenge China’s dominance.
These islands are flashpoints for tension, with ships and planes moving constantly to assert influence. What began as an engineering project has become a high-stakes geopolitical chessboard.
Legal Questions
According to the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS), artificial islands do not generate territorial waters or exclusive economic zones. So technically, China cannot claim surrounding seas just because it built land there.
But in practice, perception matters. Once an island is equipped with infrastructure and personnel, it becomes a de facto presence that is difficult to ignore. Countries, ships, and planes start operating around it, effectively shifting influence without officially changing borders.
International law is struggling to keep up with technological possibilities. Creating new land from the ocean wasn’t something lawmakers imagined when defining maritime rights.
Environmental and Strategic Impacts
The environmental consequences are serious: coral reefs, fish populations, and coastal ecosystems are destroyed. Yet these islands also reshape the geopolitical map. They allow China to extend its reach in the South China Sea, assert military presence, and strengthen supply chains across contested waters.
This raises a broader question: how should the world balance technological innovation with environmental protection and international norms? Artificial islands like these may be an engineering triumph, but they come with costs that ripple across oceans and generations.
The Takeaway
China’s decade-long project to create islands from the sea is more than a feat of engineering. It’s a story about power, ambition, and the lengths nations will go to secure influence. These islands are now military bases, geopolitical tools, and environmental scars all at once.
As technology advances, creating land where none existed will become easier. But the lessons of the South China Sea are clear: reshaping the earth may give a country strategic advantages, but it also disrupts ecosystems, challenges international law, and sparks regional tension.
Sand and sea may seem endless, but the consequences of building on top of them will last for generations.