Daniel Choi

How Trump’s Marine Monument Announcement Counters China in the Pacific

Situation Reports - Jun 25, 2026

A U.S. Coast Guard Cutter Kimball (WMSL 756) law enforcement team pulls alongside the F/V Pacific Venture prior to conducting a living marine resource boarding in the Bering Sea, June 1, 2024. Kimball’s crew ensured fishing vessels in the Bering Sea were within compliance of all federal fishery conservation laws and safety requirements through the completion of twenty living marine resources boardings during their 122-day patrol of the region. U.S. Coast Guard photo by Ensign James Bongard. - https://www.news.uscg.mil/Doing-Business/Photos/igphoto/2003520062/

President Trump's maritime national monument order has been viewed as a deregulation story. But it's also a strategic one that places US civilian vessels in close proximity to China’s irregular maritime forces in the Pacific.