Barque Canada Reef

Barque Canada Reef is a shallow coral atoll in the Spratly Islands of the South China Sea, in the area known as the Dangerous Ground, nearly 30 kilometers long but less than 4 kilometers at its widest point. A coral rim encloses an internal lagoon about 13 kilometers long and 2 kilometers wide, with the coral structure itself covering roughly 49.5 square kilometers and the lagoon about 16.9 square kilometers. Vietnam has administered the reef since 1988, though it is also claimed by China, Malaysia, the Philippines and Taiwan. Since 2022 Vietnam has carried out extensive land reclamation there, expanding its artificial land from about 238 to 412 acres by 2024 and building structures including Thuyen Chai D Island, which carries a 3,200 meter runway comparable to airstrips China has built on other contested reefs.