[Congressional Bills 114th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[S. Res. 370 Introduced in Senate (IS)]

<DOC>






114th CONGRESS
  2d Session
S. RES. 370

    Recognizing that for nearly 40 years, the United States and the 
  Association of South East Asian Nations (ASEAN) have worked toward 
          stability, prosperity, and peace in Southeast Asia.


_______________________________________________________________________


                   IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES

                           February 10, 2016

  Mr. Cardin (for himself, Mr. McCain, Mr. Schatz, Mr. Sullivan, Mrs. 
 Feinstein, and Ms. Hirono) submitted the following resolution; which 
           was referred to the Committee on Foreign Relations

_______________________________________________________________________

                               RESOLUTION


 
    Recognizing that for nearly 40 years, the United States and the 
  Association of South East Asian Nations (ASEAN) have worked toward 
          stability, prosperity, and peace in Southeast Asia.

Whereas the February 2016 U.S.-ASEAN summit at Sunnylands in Rancho Mirage, 
        California, is an opportunity to deepen the United States-ASEAN 
        partnership;
Whereas the United States and the Association of South East Asian Nations 
        (ASEAN) established dialogue relations on September 10, 1977, with the 
        issuing of the 1977 Joint Communique of the First ASEAN-U.S. Dialogue, 
        and the United States acceded to the Treaty of Amity and Cooperation in 
        Southeast Asia (TAC) at the ASEAN Post Ministerial Conference Session 
        with the United States in Thailand on July 22, 2009;
Whereas the United States was the first non-ASEAN country to appoint an 
        ambassador to ASEAN on April 29, 2008, and the first dialogue partner to 
        establish a permanent mission to ASEAN in 2010;
Whereas the United States has supported efforts to strengthen the ASEAN 
        Secretariat and expand its role in providing greater coordination 
        between and enhancing the effectiveness of regional institutions;
Whereas the first-ever U.S.-ASEAN Defense Forum was held on April 1, 2014, in 
        Honolulu, Hawaii, further deepening ties on the challenges to security, 
        peace, and prosperity in the region, and on November 21, 2015, the 
        United States and ASEAN elevated their relationship to the ASEAN-U.S. 
        Strategic Partnership in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia at the 3rd U.S.-ASEAN 
        summit;
Whereas the Governments and people of the United States and ASEAN can help 
        realize their common vision of a peaceful, prosperous, rules-based Asia-
        Pacific region that offers security, opportunity, and dignity to all of 
        its citizens;
Whereas ASEAN is the 7th largest economy in the world, at $2,400,000,000,000, 
        representing the United States 4th largest export market with total-two 
        way trade in goods and services reaching $254,000,000,000 and accounting 
        for more than 500,000 jobs in the United States, and it represents a 
        diverse group of nations and dynamic economies with an expanding 
        workforce, a growing middle class, and a diverse set of skills, 
        cultures, and resources;
Whereas ASEAN is home to critical global sea lanes located at the center of the 
        world's strongest economic growth area, with $5,300,000,000,000 of 
        global trade and more than half of total shipped tonnage transiting 
        through ASEAN's sea lanes each year;
Whereas the United States has a national interest in freedom of navigation and 
        overflight, open access to Asia's maritime commons, and respect for 
        international law in the South China Sea;
Whereas the South China Sea represents a critical international waterway not 
        just for the region but the entire world;
Whereas the United States does not take sides on the competing territorial 
        disputes, but believes claimants should pursue their territorial claims 
        without resort to coercion, and through collaborative diplomacy, 
        including international arbitration, and in accordance with 
        international law and institutions;
Whereas the United States opposes all claims in the maritime domain that impinge 
        on the rights, freedoms, and lawful use of the sea that belongs to all 
        nations and upholds the principles that territorial and maritime claims, 
        including territorial waters or territorial seas, must be derived from 
        land features and otherwise comport with international law;
Whereas the United States supports the Philippines' decision to use arbitration 
        under the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS), done 
        at Montego Bay December 10, 1982, to peacefully and lawfully address 
        competing territorial claims;
Whereas the Declaration on the Conduct of Parties in the South China Sea (DOC) 
        was signed by all members of ASEAN and the People's Republic of China on 
        November 4, 2002, and the United States supports efforts by ASEAN and 
        the People's Republic of China to develop an effective Code of Conduct 
        (COC), encourages claimants not to undertake new or unilateral attempts 
        to change the status quo since the signing of the 2002 Declaration of 
        Conduct, including reclamation activities or asserting administrative 
        measures or controls in disputed areas in the South China Sea; and 
        supports efforts to fully and effectively implement the Declaration of 
        Conduct in its entirety and to work toward the expeditious conclusion of 
        an effective Code of Conduct;
Whereas the United States has invested significantly in maritime security 
        capacity building with allies and partners in ASEAN to respond to 
        threats in waters off their coasts and to provide maritime security more 
        broadly across the region;
Whereas the United States, as a longstanding Asia-Pacific power, will maintain 
        and exercise freedom of operations in the international waters and 
        airspace in the Asia-Pacific maritime domains, which are critical to the 
        prosperity, stability, and security of ASEAN and the entire Asia-Pacific 
        region;
Whereas ASEAN is a partner to the United States on key transnational challenges, 
        such as terrorism, violent extremism, climate change, environmental 
        degradation and pollution, energy, infectious diseases, disarmament, 
        proliferation of weapons of mass destruction, cybersecurity, trafficking 
        in persons, illicit trafficking of wildlife and timber and illegal, 
        unregulated, and unreported fishing;
Whereas the United States, ASEAN, and other Dialogue Partners, through the 2015 
        East Asia Summit, adopted a statement on transnational cyber issues, 
        emphasizing the importance of regional cooperation to improve the 
        security and stability of cyber networks which sets an important 
        precedent for strengthening practical cooperation, risk reduction, and 
        confidence building in cyberspace;
Whereas the 2015 East Asia Summit in Kuala Lumpur adopted a statement on 
        countering violent extremism, where the United States, ASEAN, and other 
        Dialogue Partner leaders sent a clear signal of the region's 
        determination to tackle challenges posed by the Islamic State of Iraq 
        and Syria and other violent extremist groups, and to respond to their 
        efforts to spread their ideology of violence and terrorism;
Whereas 2015 East Asia Summit leaders also adopted a statement on health 
        security in responding to diseases with pandemic potential, which 
        committed the region to improve health surveillance systems in each 
        nation, and emphasized the importance of information sharing to promote 
        early detention and response to potential pandemics;
Whereas all members at the 2015 East Asia Summit adopted a statement on maritime 
        cooperation, including preventing incidents at sea, illegal, unreported 
        and unregulated fishing, irregular migration, piracy, and to collaborate 
        on protecting the marine environment;
Whereas changes in climatic conditions in the ASEAN region over the past four 
        decades have resulted in major loss and damage throughout the ASEAN 
        region with a disproportionate impact on developing countries, with the 
        experiences of Cyclone Nargis in Myanmar and Typhoon Haiyan in the 
        Philippines providing stark evidence of the destructive impacts on the 
        region;
Whereas conservation and sustainable management of forests throughout ASEAN play 
        an important role in helping to mitigate changes in the climate, reduce 
        the risks of extreme weather events and other climate-driven disasters, 
        and provide sustainable economic livelihood opportunities for local 
        communities;
Whereas the United States will pursue initiatives that are consistent with 
        broader sustainable development, including the achievement of food 
        security and poverty alleviation throughout the ASEAN region, and build 
        on cooperative efforts outlined at the 2014 ASEAN-U.S. Summit to further 
        tackle this global challenge;
Whereas ASEAN is the third-fastest growing economy in Asia after China and 
        India, expanding by 30 percent since 2007 and exceeding the global 
        growth average for the past 10 years;
Whereas the ASEAN Economic Community aims to create one of the largest single 
        market economies in the world, facilitating the free movement of goods, 
        services, and professionals and a sense of economic community among its 
        member states;
Whereas the United States is the largest investor in Southeast Asia, almost 
        $190,000,000,000 in 2012, creating millions of jobs in the United States 
        and in ASEAN Member States, while investment in the United States from 
        Southeast Asia has increased more than from any other region in the past 
        decade;
Whereas the United States has helped ASEAN create a Single Window customs 
        facilitation system that will help to expedite intra-ASEAN trade and 
        make it easier for United States businesses to operate in the region;
Whereas the U.S.-ASEAN Business Alliance for Competitive SMEs has already 
        trained 3,500 small to medium enterprises, with nearly half of the 
        individuals trained being young women entrepreneurs;
Whereas United States-ASEAN development cooperation has focused on innovation 
        and capacity-building efforts in technology, education, disaster 
        management, food security, human rights, and trade facilitation;
Whereas the Lower Mekong Initiative, established on July 23, 2009, is a 
        multinational effort that helps promote sustainable economic development 
        in mainland Southeast Asia to foster integrated, multisectoral 
        subregional cooperation and capacity building;
Whereas the United States is a committed partner with ASEAN on the protection of 
        human rights, which are essential for fostering and maintaining 
        stability, security, and good governance;
Whereas, on November 18, 2012, ASEAN Member States came together and adopted an 
        ASEAN Human Rights Declaration that by its own terms ``affirms all the 
        civil and political rights'' and the ``economic social and cultural 
        rights'' in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights;
Whereas the United States supports the work and mandate of the ASEAN 
        Intergovernmental Commission on Human Rights (AICHR), including capacity 
        building for the promotion and protection of human rights and its 
        priority, programs, and activities;
Whereas the Young Southeast Asian Leaders Program has now engaged over 60,000 
        people between the ages of 18 and 35 across all 10 ASEAN nations to 
        promote innovation among young people while also providing skills to a 
        new generation of people who will create and fill the jobs of the 
        future;
Whereas the irregular movement of persons continues to be one of the main 
        security threats in the South East Asia region;
Whereas addressing migration flows and combating human smuggling in ASEAN is an 
        important, ongoing challenge requiring increased coordination and shared 
        responsibility;
Whereas, on November 21, 2015, ASEAN signed the ASEAN Convention Against 
        Trafficking in Persons, Especially Women and Children, which represents 
        an important step forward in preventing trafficking, prosecuting the 
        perpetrators, and protecting the survivors; and
Whereas the United States supports ASEAN Member States in anticorruption efforts 
        through, among other initiatives, the implementation of the United 
        Nations Convention Against Corruption: Now, therefore, be it
    Resolved, That the Senate--
            (1) welcomes the leaders of the Association of South East 
        Asian Nations (ASEAN) to the United States for the special 
        February 2016 U.S.-ASEAN summit meeting at Rancho Mirage, 
        California, and affirms the summit as the first regular U.S.-
        ASEAN summit;
            (2) supports and welcomes the elevation of the United 
        States-ASEAN relationship to a strategic partnership and 
        recommits the United States to ASEAN centrality and to helping 
        to build a strong, stable, politically cohesive, economically 
        integrated, and socially responsible ASEAN community with 
        common rules, norms, procedures, and standards consistent with 
        international law and the principles of a ``rule-based'' Asia-
        Pacific community;
            (3) supports efforts towards increasing two-way trade and 
        investment, promoting trade and investment liberalization and 
        facilitation, encouraging strong, sustainable, and inclusive 
        economic growth and job creation, and deepening connectivity;
            (4) urges ASEAN to continue its efforts to foster greater 
        integration and unity, including with non-ASEAN economic, 
        political, and security partners, including Japan, the Republic 
        of Korea, Australia, the European Union, and India, both inside 
        of and outside of Asia;
            (5) supports efforts by ASEAN nations to address maritime 
        and territorial disputes in a constructive manner and to pursue 
        claims through peaceful, diplomatic, and legitimate regional 
        and international arbitration mechanisms, consistent with 
        international law;
            (6) urges all parties to maritime and territorial disputes 
        in the Asia-Pacific region to--
                    (A) respect the status quo;
                    (B) exercise self-restraint in the conduct of 
                activities that would undermine stability or complicate 
                or escalate disputes through the use of coercion, 
                intimidation, or military force;
                    (C) cease land reclamation activities; and
                    (D) refrain from inhabiting or garrisoning or 
                otherwise militarizing uninhabited islands, reefs, 
                shoals, and other features;
            (7) opposes actions by any country to prevent any other 
        country from exercising its sovereign rights to the resources 
        of the exclusive economic zone (EEZ) and continental shelf by 
        making claims to those areas in the South China Sea that have 
        no support in international law;
            (8) opposes unilateral declarations of administrative and 
        military districts in contested areas in the South China Sea;
            (9) opposes the imposition of new fishing regulations 
        covering disputed areas in the South China Sea, which have 
        raised tensions in the region;
            (10) urges parties to refrain from unilateral actions that 
        cause permanent physical change to the marine environment in 
        areas pending final delimitation;
            (11) supports efforts by the Association of Southeast Asian 
        Nations (ASEAN) and the People's Republic of China to develop 
        an effective Code of Conduct (COC) and urges ASEAN to implement 
        and work toward the expeditious conclusion of an effective Code 
        of Conduct with regards to the South China Sea;
            (12) urges ASEAN to develop a common approach to reaffirm 
        the decision of the Permanent Court of Arbitration in The 
        Hague's ruling with respect to the case between the Republic of 
        the Philippines and the People's Republic of China;
            (13) supports efforts by United States partners and allies 
        in ASEAN--
                    (A) to enhance maritime capability;
                    (B) to retain unhindered access to and use of 
                international waterways in the Asia-Pacific region that 
                are critical to ensuring the security and free flow of 
                commerce;
                    (C) to improve maritime domain awareness;
                    (D) to counter piracy;
                    (E) to disrupt illicit maritime trafficking 
                activities and other forms of maritime trafficking 
                activity; and
                    (F) to enhance the maritime capabilities of a 
                country or regional organizations to respond to 
                emerging threats to maritime security in the Asia-
                Pacific region;
            (14) reaffirms the enhancement of United States-ASEAN 
        economic engagement, including the elimination of barriers to 
        cross-border commerce, and supports the ASEAN Economic 
        Community's goals, including strong, inclusive, and sustainable 
        growth and cooperation between the United States and ASEAN that 
        focuses on innovation and capacity building efforts in 
        technology, education, disaster management, food security, 
        human rights, and trade facilitation, including for ASEAN's 
        poorest countries;
            (15) supports the Lower Mekong Initiative, which has made 
        significant progress in promoting sustainable economic 
        development in mainland Southeast Asia and fostering integrated 
        subregional cooperation and capacity building;
            (16) supports capacity building for the promotion and 
        protection of human rights and related priority, programs, and 
        activities;
            (17) supports the Young Southeast Asian Leaders Initiative 
        program as an example of people-to-people partnership building 
        that provides skills and networks to a new generation of people 
        who will create and fill the jobs of the future;
            (18) reaffirms the commitment of the United States to 
        continue joint efforts with ASEAN to halt human smuggling and 
        trafficking of persons and urges ASEAN to make increased 
        efforts to create and strengthen regional mechanisms to provide 
        assistance and support to refugees and migrants;
            (19) urges ASEAN nations to engage directly with leaders of 
        civil society, human rights, and environmental groups before, 
        during, and after the February 2016 summit; and
            (20) encourages the President to communicate to ASEAN 
        leaders the importance of releasing political prisoners and 
        ending politically motivated prosecutions.
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