evidence: Recent Chinese intimidation against Japan over the Senkaku Islands in the East China Sea presents an ideal opportunity for the United States to strengthen the alliance with Tokyo and enhance regional strategic security and stability. On June 22, 2020, the Ishigaki City Council of Okinawa voted to strengthen Japan’s administrative control of the Senkaku Islands by reasserting that the islands are Japanese territory and changing their administrative name from "Tonoshiro" to "Tonoshiro Senkaku."[1] The United States should acknowledge the name change and officially recognize the Senkakus as Japanese territory, as it once did before the reversion of Okinawa to Japan in 1972. [...] The United States should take advantage of this new development, acknowledge the name change, and again officially recognize the Senkakus as Japanese territory. After the Second World War, the United States recognized Japanese residual sovereignty over the Senkakus. President Richard Nixon changed the U.S. position in 1972 during the negotiation of the Okinawa Reversion Treaty. But that move was done as part of the Nixon administration’s triangular diplomacy to attract China as a counterbalance to ascending Soviet economic might and expanding nuclear arsenal. Today, China is the greater threat and support for Japan as a front-line State balancing China’s burgeoning military power is long overdue. Recognizing Japanese sovereignty over the islands would demonstrate strong support for our extremely important ally in the Pacific and would send a clear message to Beijing that the United States will stand up to Chinese aggression in the region and not abandon its allies and partners.