Military Tech's video: Breaking: China takes a hit as the US Navy threatens to get tough on Beijing s sea forces

The US Navy has reportedly warned China that it could treat the Chinese coast guard and the paramilitary fishing fleet known as the maritime militia the same as the Chinese navy - as combatants. Adm. John Richardson, the chief of naval operations, "made it very clear" to his Chinese counterpart in January that "that the US Navy will not be coerced," the Financial Times reported, citing an interview with the Navy's top admiral. "By injecting greater uncertainty about how the US will respond to China's grey-zone coercion, the US hopes to deter Chinese destabilizing maritime behavior," Bonnie Glaser, a China expert at the Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS), told the Financial Times. The warning is a blow to Chinese "gray-zone aggression," which involves using non-naval vessels to exercise Beijing's will in disputed waterways, such as the South China Sea and the East China Sea, without risking escalation.