Beijing has taken aim at Vietnam and demanded fishermen be given an "education" on "illegal activities" in the South China Sea, as regional tensions ramp up. The demands were made in response to Hanoi's fury at China's detention of Vietnamese fishermen and fishing vessels in the disputed Paracel Islands.

Malaysia sends a letter of complaint to Vietnam over its alleged expansion of a coral reef in the disputed Spratly Islands that both countries claim as their own.

See how China has spent tens of billions of dollars turning farm fields and seaports into military complexes on Hainan and remote outposts in the South China Sea.

Malaysia has filed a formal complaint against Vietnam, accusing it of expanding the Barque Canada Reef in the contested South China Sea. The reef is part of the disputed Spratly Islands, claimed by several countries.

Hanoi is building runways, military structures on reclaimed islands at a ‘surprising’ pace, a think-tank said.

The Philippine military has opened two weeks of combat drills that will include seizing an island in the disputed South China Sea and likely be frowned upon by China.

AMTI flagged in June that the reef indeed had the potential to host a 3,000-meter runway like those that China has in the Spratlys. Vietnam currently has only one airstrip in the archipelago, on an island called Spratly, measuring 1,300 meters.

China has yet to respond to the call, which includes payment for two damaged boats and the return of rifles seized during the June 17 stand-off.