evidence: The People’s Republic of China’s (PRC) coercive behavior around the Japan-administered Senkaku Islands continued recently when the Chinese coast guard confronted a Japanese research vessel surveying the uninhabited East China Sea archipelago. [...] Chinese coast guard vessels have been a near-constant presence around the Senkakus for several years. The Japan Coast Guard said PRC vessels entered the islands’ contiguous zone — which extends from 22 to 44 kilometers off the coast — nearly every day in 2023, The Diplomat magazine reported. Overall, the Japan Coast Guard sighted about 1,300 PRC vessels in 2023, the highest figure since records began 15 years ago. On 42 occasions, Chinese coast guard ships intruded into Japan’s territorial waters by coming within 22 kilometers of the coast. The PRC is attempting to push its territorial claims by establishing "a greater and more enduring presence of its ships in the waters around the islands," James Brown, an associate professor of political science at Temple University’s Tokyo campus, told the broadcast network CNN.