[Congressional Bills 109th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H. Res. 57 Introduced in House (IH)]






109th CONGRESS
  1st Session
H. RES. 57

Urging the European Union to maintain its arms embargo on the People's 
                           Republic of China.


_______________________________________________________________________


                    IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

                            February 1, 2005

Mr. Hyde (for himself, Mr. Lantos, Ms. Ros-Lehtinen, and Mr. McCotter) 
submitted the following resolution; which was referred to the Committee 
                       on International Relations

_______________________________________________________________________

                               RESOLUTION


 
Urging the European Union to maintain its arms embargo on the People's 
                           Republic of China.

Whereas the United States and the European Union (EU) have maintained arms 
        embargoes on the People's Republic of China since 1989, following the 
        decision of the Chinese Government on June 4, 1989, to order an 
        unprovoked, brutal, and indiscriminate assault on thousands of peaceful 
        and unarmed demonstrators and onlookers in and around Tiananmen Square 
        by units of the People's Liberation Army, which resulted in an untold 
        number of deaths and several thousand injuries;
Whereas the People's Republic of China has yet to acknowledge and make amends 
        for the 1989 massacre at Tiananmen Square and an estimated 2,000 Chinese 
        citizens remain in prison as a result of their participation in those 
        peaceful demonstrations according to the Department of State's Country 
        Reports on Human Rights Practices for 2004;
Whereas the National Security Strategy of the United States approved by 
        President George W. Bush on September 17, 2002, concludes that the 
        People's Republic of China remains strongly committed to national one-
        party rule by the Communist Party and is not truly accountable to the 
        needs and aspirations of its citizens, while preventing the Chinese 
        people to think, assemble, and worship freely;
Whereas for several years the People's Republic of China has also been engaged 
        in an extensive military buildup in its air, naval, land, and outer 
        space systems, including the deployment of approximately 500 short range 
        ballistic missiles near the Taiwan Strait according to the Department of 
        Defense's Report on the Military Power of the People's Republic of China 
        for Fiscal Year 2004;
Whereas the military buildup by the People's Republic of China and the strategic 
        doctrines and policies that underpin such a buildup remain shrouded in 
        secrecy and imply challenges for strategic deterrence between the United 
        States and China, United States Armed Forces deployed in the Asia and 
        Pacific region, United States commitments and interests related to the 
        defense of numerous friends and allies in the region, particularly 
        Taiwan and Japan, and regional stability more broadly;
Whereas the European Union and the People's Republic of China released a joint 
        statement on December 8, 2004, following their seventh summit meeting at 
        The Hague in which the two sides recognized each other as ``major 
        strategic partners in the area of disarmament and non-proliferation'' 
        and the EU confirmed its ``political will to continue to work towards 
        lifting the EU arms embargo against China'';
Whereas the European Union and the People's Republic of China also released a 
        joint declaration on non-proliferation and arms control on December 8, 
        2004, at The Hague in which the EU stated its support for China's entry 
        into the Missile Technology Control Regime (MTCR);
Whereas on December 20, 2004, the Government of the United States determined 
        that seven entities of the People's Republic of China, including several 
        entities that play major roles in China's military-industrial complex, 
        should be subject to sanctions under section 3 of the Iran 
        Nonproliferation Act of 2000, which provides for penalties on entities 
        for the transfer to Iran of certain controlled equipment and technology, 
        reflecting a time span of more than a decade in which the United States 
        Government has made repeated determinations regarding Chinese firms 
        engaged in illicit transactions involving strategic technology;
Whereas on December 17, 2004, the Council of the European Union ``reaffirmed the 
        political will to continue to work towards lifting the arms embargo'' on 
        the People's Republic of China and invited the next Presidency of the EU 
        ``to finalize the well-advanced work in order to allow for a decision'';
Whereas the largest member states of the European Union--France, Germany, Italy, 
        and the United Kingdom--have steadily increased their arms sales to the 
        People's Republic of China, such that from 2002 to 2003 the value of 
        reported arms sales to China doubled to approximately $540,000,000, 
        according to the most recent annual report, dated November 11, 2004, of 
        the EU on its Code of Conduct on Arms Exports;
Whereas in order to assist member states of the European Union to close the gap 
        in defense capabilities with the United States and to enhance the 
        interoperability of the armed forces of such member states and United 
        States Armed Forces, the United States has provided a framework in its 
        laws, particularly under the Arms Export Control Act and chapters 138 
        and 139 of title 10, United States Code, in which the United States has 
        pursued a policy of expanded transatlantic armament and defense industry 
        cooperation involving increasingly sophisticated levels of sensitive 
        United States military technology, which becomes subject to increased 
        risks of diversion to the People's Republic of China due to armaments 
        cooperation between the EU and China;
Whereas despite the chronically low defense spending of member states of the 
        European Union, EU member states have decided to develop, with the 
        participation of the People's Republic of China, a new global radio 
        navigational satellite system, known as Galileo, at a cost of more than 
        $3,000,000,000, which will have military applications, even though such 
        system purports to serve civil applications already served by the United 
        States Global Positioning Satellite (GPS) System; and
Whereas the United States has numerous national interests in the Asia and 
        Pacific region, including the security of Japan, Taiwan, South Korea and 
        other key areas, and United States Armed Forces which are deployed 
        throughout the region could be jeopardized by the People's Republic of 
        China because it is increasingly well-armed and may seek to settle long-
        standing territorial and political disputes in the region by the threat 
        or use of military force: Now, therefore, be it
    Resolved,  That the House of Representatives--
            (1) reaffirms the United States arms embargo on the 
        People's Republic of China and related findings and statements 
        of policy set forth in title IX of the Foreign Relations 
        Authorization Act, Fiscal Years 1990 and 1991 (Public Law 101-
        246);
            (2) finds that policies by the United States and other 
        countries which promote the development of democracy in the 
        People's Republic of China, and not the development of Chinese 
        military capabilities, will help assure a stable, peaceful, and 
        prosperous Asia and Pacific region;
            (3) deplores the recent increase in arms sales by member 
        states of the European Union (EU) to the People's Republic of 
        China and the European Council's decision to finalize work 
        toward lifting its arms embargo on China, actions that place 
        European security policy in direct conflict with United States 
        security interests and with the security interests of United 
        States friends and allies in the Asia and Pacific region;
            (4) declares that such a development in European security 
        policy is inherently inconsistent with the concept of mutual 
        security interests that lies at the heart of United States laws 
        for transatlantic defense cooperation at both the governmental 
        and industrial levels and would necessitate limitations and 
        constraints in these relationships that would be unwelcome on 
        both sides of the Atlantic;
            (5) requests the President in his forthcoming meetings with 
        European leaders to urge that they reconsider this unwise 
        course of action and, instead, work expeditiously to close any 
        gaps in the European Union's arms embargo on the People's 
        Republic of China, in the national export control systems of EU 
        member states, and in the EU's Code of Conduct on Arms Exports 
        in order to prevent any future sale of arms or related 
        technology to China; and
            (6) requests the President to inform Congress of the 
        outcome of his discussions with European leaders on this 
        subject and to keep Congress fully and currently informed of 
        all developments in this regard.
                                 <all>