For over a decade, the Chinese Communist Party has deployed “fishing fleets” and coast guard vessels as tools of coercion, blurring the line between civilian and military activity to expand its control across the Indo-Pacific. In the East China Sea, more than 600 Chinese vessels formed coordinated lines for hours at a time. In the Yellow Sea, China installed large aquaculture cages and a network of surveillance buoys in contested waters with South Korea. And in the South China Sea, China has surged coast guard patrols around Scarborough Shoal while constructing new artificial outposts at reefs near Vietnam complete with jetties, helipads, and potential runways. This is not routine commerce, it's gray zone warfare designed to intimidate U.S. allies, restrict access to international waters, and normalize China’s unlawful territorial claims. The U.S. and its partners must respond with urgency, strengthening maritime domain awareness, supporting frontline allies, and defending freedom of navigation.