evidence: So-called "gray zone" activities or tactics are recognizable and controversial elements of the People’s Republic of China’s (PRC) strategy in maritime East Asia. Chinese leaders’ primary aims are to assert sovereignty over disputed island territories, effectively control strategic maritime and air space, and gradually erode U.S. power and alliance commitments in the region. [...] - Interference with legitimate commercial activity by coastal states (e.g., harassment of Indonesian oil and gas activities near Natuna, exclusion of Philippines fishing from Scarborough Shoal) [...] Leaders in Beijing have found this tactical package to work reasonably well against each of China’s maritime neighbors: Japan, North and South Korea, Taiwan the Philippines, Brunei, Malaysia, Indonesia, and Vietnam. Not one of these rival claimants has managed to settle its maritime boundaries with the PRC, which is unique among claimants in having no (0) settled maritime boundaries. Nor do any claimants have any meaningful bilateral negotiations underway with Beijing concerning disputed territorial sovereignty and maritime jurisdiction. In multilateral settings, only a protracted and dilute "Code of Conduct" process is in effect, which does not even aim to resolve but rather to palliate conflicts over some but not all of the disputed SCS islands.3