Washington, D.C. — As President Trump begins his D.C. summit with China’s President Xi Jinping, Colorado U.S. Senator Michael Bennet, a member of the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence, joined Senator Andy Kim (D-N.J.) and a group of Democratic Senate colleagues on a letter urging President Trump to address China’s posturing in the South China Sea and the strategic consequences of Beijing’s renewed island building campaign for the United States, our partners, and allies in the region.
“We are concerned that your administration appears to be ignoring this renewed island building campaign while pursuing diplomacy with China,” wrote the senators. “The fact that China has chosen this moment to resume artificial island-building on your watch, after a decade of dormancy, indicates that your administration’s efforts to bolster frontline states and deter Chinese maritime coercion in the South China Sea have, to date, proven insufficient.”
In the letter, the senators note that China has previously claimed 90 percent of the South China Sea as its own territory, despite there being no legal basis in international law for such claims. China places surveillance technology, long runways for military aircraft, military bases, and other capabilities on its artificial islands in the South China Sea, threatening regional actors like Taiwan, Vietnam, and the Philippines, a U.S. treaty ally. Most recently, China has begun large-scale dredging and land reclamation activities to further militarize “Antelope Reef,” an artificial island in the Paracel Islands in the South China Sea.
“A Chinese presence on Antelope Island could further reinforce its broad, sweeping territorial claims over the South China Sea in violation of international law and opposition to longstanding U.S. policy, reinforcing Beijing’s vision of a ‘might makes right’ world,” warned the senators. “Potential air and naval facilities on the island will provide the People’s Liberation Army, China Coast Guard, and Chinese Maritime Militia, with another platform from which to intimidate, harass, and coerce our regional allies and partners. Experts have warned that the island will also likely be used to surveil and constrain U.S. naval activity in the South China Sea.”
In May 2026, Bennet secured a provision in the Intelligence Authorization Act for FY 2027, which the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence passed, directing the U.S. Intelligence Community to strengthen intelligence cooperation with U.S. allies and partners in the Indo-Pacific to deter China’s expansionism. Also in May, Bennet led bipartisan colleagues on a letter to U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio reaffirming congressional support for the Taiwan Relations Act and underscoring their belief that there should be no unilateral changes to this policy nor any new U.S. declaratory policy on Taiwan. In 2025, Bennet passed legislation requiring the Secretary of Defense to develop and implement a strategy to strengthen U.S.-led multilateral efforts with Indo-Pacific allies to deter China.
In addition to Bennet and Kim, U.S. Senators Tim Kaine (D-Va.), Brian Schatz (D-Hawaii), Tammy Duckworth (D-Ill.), and Jeff Merkley (D-Ore.) signed the letter.
The text of the letter is available HERE and below.
Dear President Trump:
We write to you regarding our deep concern over China’s posturing in the South China Sea and its renewed island building campaign. For the first time in nearly ten years, China has converted a large reef called “Antelope Reef” in the northern part of the South China Sea into an artificial island that could house or support military and surveillance forces. We have deep concerns due to the strategic consequences of this campaign for the United States as well as our partners and allies in the region. We urge you to discuss the resumption of artificial island-building in the South China Sea at your upcoming summit on September 24th with President Xi.
The South China Sea is a strategic international waterway through which trillions of dollars of goods pass through annually. China has claimed 90 percent of the South China Sea as its own territory, despite the ruling by the ad hoc Arbitral Tribunal that, under the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea, there is no legal basis for China’s claims. In addition to this ruling, the international community has strongly condemned such claims. For years, China has increased its claim over the South China Sea by building artificial islands, which house Chinese surveillance technology, long runways for military aircraft, and military bases, among other capabilities. From 2013 through 2017, China built or expanded more than 20 military outposts in the South China Sea that are able to hold military bases and house troops. While China had halted its campaign of island building from 2017 through this year, it has continued to outfit its existing artificial islands with long runways, large aircraft hangars, radar arrays, and surface-to-air missile garages, among other military capabilities.
For the first time in nearly ten years, China is again undertaking large-scale dredging and land reclamation activities to convert the maritime feature, Antelope Reef, in the South China Sea’s Paracel Islands. The Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS) reports that Antelope Reef may now be the largest island in the South China Sea. The design of Antelope Reef would allow China to dock ships and construct a 9,000 foot runway for aircraft, as it has done on Woody Island, Mischief Reef, Subi Reef, and Fiery Cross Reef. In addition to the runway, analysts say that Antelope Reef could give China more missile facilities and additional surveillance installations.
The construction of an artificial island at Antelope Reef presents several threats to the United States’ commitment to a free and open Indo-Pacific in several ways. A Chinese presence on Antelope Island could further reinforce its broad, sweeping territorial claims over the South China Sea in violation of international law and opposition to longstanding U.S. policy, reinforcing Beijing’s vision of a “might makes right” world. Potential air and naval facilities on the island will provide the People’s Liberation Army, China Coast Guard, and Chinese Maritime Militia, with another platform from which to intimidate, harass, and coerce our regional allies and partners. Experts have warned that the island will also likely be used to surveil and constrain U.S. naval activity in the South China Sea. As China claims greater control over the South China Sea, it has sought to limit the range and transport of U.S. naval vessels, such as happened in 2017 when China claimed a U.S. warship had entered its waters “without permission” as it traversed past an artificial island.
In addition to the direct strategic threat China’s renewed island building places on an open Indo-Pacific, Antelope Reef could give China an even greater position in a potential future conflict with Taiwan, as is location in the northern part of the South China Sea provides opportunities to station bombers in proximity to resupply from the mainland and protect its Hainan-based submarine fleet. Without a strong signal from the U.S. against China’s renewed island building campaign at Antelope Reef, we are concerned China will feel emboldened to resume large scale island-building activities across the South China Sea, which could further threaten allies and partners in the region.
We are concerned that your administration appears to be ignoring this renewed island building campaign while pursuing diplomacy with China. The fact that China has chosen this moment to resume artificial island-building on your watch, after a decade of dormancy, indicates that your administration’s efforts to bolster frontline states and deter Chinese maritime coercion in the South China Sea have, to date, proven insufficient. This runs directly counter to your own National Security Strategy, which identifies preventing “the potential for any competitor to control the South China Sea” as key to U.S. strategy in the Indo-Pacific. Our concerns were heightened when Under Secretary of Defense for Policy Elbridge Colby failed to address the issue during his August 10 speech in the Philippines, which broke from the approach the U.S. government has taken in the past and reinforced impressions that the Trump Administration lacks sufficient resolve to support allies and partners in the region.
We urge you to raise China’s recent resumption of artificial island building in the South China Sea in your upcoming summit with Chinese President Xi Jinping. Specifically, we urge you to communicate that land reclamation, dredging, and militarization of disputed maritime features must cease, reiterate U.S. support for a free and open Indo-Pacific, and reiterate that the United States will continue to fly, sail, and operate wherever international law allows
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