The People's Republic of China's aggressive and provocative behavior in the maritime territorial disputes represents a threat to vital U.S. interests as severe as those from Russia, Iran, North Korea, and terrorism from the Middle East, according to the Heritage Foundation's 2017 index for U.S. military strength. Since 2013, China has rapidly advanced its maritime capabilities, employed them to transform the South China Sea with artificial islands, place Japan under increasing pressure in the East China Sea, and attempt to restrict freedom of navigation in its near waters. Unbelievably, China has suffered little, if any, cost for this maritime push. In the South China Sea, China has built over 3,200 acres of land over disputed features in the Spratly Islands, complete with military-capable airstrips, ports, radars, anti-aircraft weapons, and, confirmed just last week, surface-to-air missile silos. China also continues to press Japanese vessels around the Senkaku Islands in the East China Sea. Officials from the Obama administration proclaimed the importance of freedom of navigation in response to to China's effort to restrict it, but this fundamental right, and the international law which protects it, was only hesitantly enforced with four Freedom of Navigation operations, none of which challenged China's tacit assertion that its artificial islands are entitled to territorial seas.