evidence: Across much of the Indo-Pacific region, the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) is using military and economic coercionâ¯to bully its neighbors, advance unlawful maritime claims, threaten maritime shipping lanes, and destabilize territory along the periphery of the Peopleâs Republic of China (PRC).Â This predatory conduct increases the risk of miscalculation and conflict. The United States stands with its Southeast Asian allies and partners to champion a free and open Indo-Pacific. [...] In the East China Sea, the PRC strategically deploys its coast guard, military, and control of the worldâs largest commercial fishing fleet to intimidate and challenge its neighbors.Â For example, for more than a decade, the PRC has operated ships and planes near the Senkaku Islandsâa group of uninhabited islands that reverted to Japanâs administration in 1971 under the Okinawa Reversion Agreement.Â In 2016, hundreds of PRC fishing vessels swarmed the waters of theâ¯Senkakusâ¯in a move calculated by the CCP toâ¯undermine Japanâs administration. The United States strongly opposes such attempts to alter the status quo in the East China Sea and has long been clear that the U.S.-Japan Security Treaty applies to the Senkaku Islands by virtue of Japanâs administration of the islands.Â Decisions like the PRCâs 2013 declaration of an âEast China Sea Air Defense Identification Zoneâ are equally brazen attempts to change the status quo in the East China Sea and makeâ¯clear the PRC has no interest in playing a positive role in theâ¯region.