The past few years have seen Beijing promote and assert its maritime sovereignty claims by creating facts on the ground, exerting de facto control, and ultimately presenting a fait accompli to the region and the world.

In the East China Sea, China has steadily increased its maritime presence out to the First Island Chain; constructed gas drilling rigs near the contiguous zone median line, despite the fact that Beijing and Tokyo have not yet finalized a 2008 bilateral agreement to demarcate maritime boundaries; conducted provocative maritime incursions into the territorial waters of the disputed Senkaku Islands; and challenged air incursions into Japanese airspace. In 2013, Beijing unilaterally declared an air defense identification zone in a poorly coordinated move to exert control over the airspace above its claimed waters and put further pressure on Tokyo to formally acknowledge the territorial dispute between China and Japan over the Senkaku Islands.

In the South China Sea, China has built land out of extant geographic features for permanent presence and occupation; militarized some features for maritime security (defense) now and power projection (offense) later; and employed an aggressive legal crusade to characterize the developed geographic features as islands deserving of maritime zones. In both seas, Beijing carries out a sophisticated public relations campaign to bolster its expansive maritime sovereignty claims, and cajoles or coerces acceptance through a pattern of modulating assertive diplomacy combined with economic incentives and military pressures (a strategy known as tailored coercion).