[Congressional Record Volume 143, Number 56 (Monday, May 5, 1997)]
[Senate]
[Pages S3968-S3969]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




 SENATE RESOLUTION 82--EXPRESSING THE SENSE OF THE SENATE TO URGE THE 
        CLINTON ADMINISTRATION RELATIVE TO C-802 CRUISE MISSILES

  Mr. BENNETT (for himself, Mr. D'Amato, Mr. Helms, Mr. Dodd, Mr. 
Ashcroft, Mrs. Hutchison, and Mr. Brownback) submitted the following 
resolution; which was referred to the Committee on Foreign Relations:

                               S. Res. 82

       Whereas the United States escort vessel U.S.S. Stark was 
     struck by a cruise missile, causing the death of 37 United 
     States sailors;
       Whereas the China National Precision Machinery Import 
     Export Corporation is marketing the C-802 model cruise 
     missile for use against escort vessels such as the U.S.S. 
     Stark;
       Whereas the China National Precision Machinery Import 
     Export Corporation has delivered 60 C-802 cruise missiles to 
     Iran for use by vessels of the Iranian Revolutionary Guard 
     Navy;
       Whereas Iran is acquiring land batteries to launch C-802 
     cruise missile which will provide its armed forces with a 
     weapon of greater range, reliability, accuracy, and mobility 
     than before;
       Whereas 15,000 members of the United States Armed Forces 
     are stationed within range of the C-802 cruise missile being 
     acquired by Iran;
       Whereas the Department of State believes that ``[t]hese 
     cruise missiles pose new, direct threats to deployed United 
     States forces'';
       Whereas the delivery of cruise missiles to Iran is a 
     violation of the Iran-Iraq Arms Non-Proliferation Act of 1992 
     (50 U.S.C. 1701 note); and
       Whereas the Clinton Administration ``has concluded at 
     present that the known types [of C-802 cruise missiles] are 
     not of a destabilizing number and type'': Now, therefore, be 
     it
       Resolved, That the Senate urges the Clinton Administration 
     to enforce the Iran-Iraq Arms Non-Proliferation Act of 1992 
     (50 U.S.C. 1701 note) with respect to the acquisition by Iran 
     of C-802 model cruise missiles or to carry out an alternative 
     policy that would address such acquisition in a manner 
     similar to that provided for in that Act.

  Mr. BENNETT. Mr. President, I am submitting today a resolution to 
address a matter that I consider vital to our national security. I have 
here a picture of the U.S.S. Stark that was disabled 10 years ago by an 
Exocet missile fired by the Iranians. Thirty-seven American sailors 
were killed in this disaster.
  I call your attention to a new missile patterned after the Exocet, 
only it is described by its sales brochures as having a ``mighty attack 
capability with great firepower.'' This is the C-802, an antishipping 
cruise missile. The sales group that is touting the mighty power of the 
C-802 is the Chinese. The Chinese have taken the Exocet and increased 
its power and increased its deadliness.
  The C-802 is being shipped. This picture shows a Chinese vessel, on 
the deck of which there are five smaller vessels, each one of which is 
equipped with four C-802's. You can see them on the back of the ships. 
These are the smaller ships on the back deck of this larger cargo 
vessel.
  Those ships are en route to Iran. The Chinese have now sold to Iran 
some 60 C-802's for their use in the Persian Gulf. Some 60 are mounted 
on 15 patrol boats. These patrol boats, again, have four missiles each.
  If one missile could damage the Stark as badly as we saw in the first 
picture, you see what 15 missiles could do. But the Chinese are not 
stopping with shipboard missiles. Here is an example of a land-based C-
802, and the Chinese are now in the process of selling these to the 
Iranians.
  Why should we be concerned about the land-based C-802? Here is a map 
of the Persian Gulf. This land mass is Iran. There are 500 miles of 
Iranian coastal waters facing the Persian Gulf. This is the Strait of 
Hormuz through which a very large percentage of the world's oil must go 
every day, something in excess of 25 percent. The Iranians have 
repeatedly threatened to close the Strait of Hormuz if the rest of the 
world does not do what Iran wishes it to do in a variety of ways. We 
heard such a threat, again, over the weekend with the Iranians saying 
that if the Americans were to try to take any kind of retaliatory 
action against Iranian terrorism, they would close this Strait of 
Hormuz.
  With land-based C-802's, they could hide them in caves or put them in 
other locations all along this 500-mile area, so that any shipping 
coming out of Kuwait, the United Arab Emirates, or Saudi Arabia into 
the Persian Gulf would be vulnerable to an attack from a land-based C-
802. With 15 patrol boats, each one having 4 missiles, or 60 sea-based 
missiles, the Iranians could actually attack from either side, having 
the patrol boats out here on one side of the shipping lanes, with the 
land-based missiles on the other, and effectively seal off the world's 
supply of oil from the Middle East without too much difficulty.
  In personal human terms, there are about 15,000 U.S. servicemen and 
servicewomen within the range of the C-802 missiles in the gulf.
  Mr. President, there is a law known as the Gore-McCain Act passed in 
1992 which says that foreign companies that deliver cruise missiles to 
Iran are subject to sanctions. I raised this issue with Secretary 
Albright, and I have raised it since in subsequent hearings. In 
January, Secretary Albright informed me that the administration will

[[Page S3969]]

not enforce the terms of the Gore-McCain Act on the grounds that the 
missiles are not ``destabilizing.''
  I am not quite sure what the word ``destabilizing'' means in this 
kind of a circumstance, but that is where the administration has chosen 
to come down.
  I believe that a nondestabilizing missile can be just as deadly to a 
ship as a destabilizing missile. Once a missile is fired, it knows no 
semantic definition, as it goes on its course for a kill. Ask the 
sailors on the Stark whether the presence of the Exocet missiles were 
destabilizing in the circumstance in the Middle East or not. Thirty-
seven of them are dead.
  Given our obligation to those that we would place in harm's way in 
the name of this country, I believe the time has come to put this issue 
on the front burner. I have asked the administration about it. I have 
used the congressional oversight circumstance to bring it to their 
attention. Now, Mr. President, today, I submit a resolution outlining 
the sense of the Senate that the administration either enforce the 
Gore-McCain Act in this circumstance or take some other appropriate 
action.
  Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the letter which I sent 
to Madeleine Albright on the 17th of April and a fact sheet relating to 
the C-802 missile be printed in the Record.
  There being no objection, the material was ordered to be printed in 
the Record, as follows:

                                                  U.S. Senate,

                                   Washington, DC, April 17, 1997.
     Hon. Madeleine K. Albright,
     Secretary of State,
     Washington, DC.
       Dear Secretary Albright: During 1996 Chinese defense 
     companies delivered a number of missile boats to the Iranian 
     Revolutionary Guard Navy. Each missile boat was armed with 
     four C-802 cruise missiles. Recently, Deputy Assistant 
     Secretary of State Robert Einhorn told the Senate, ``These 
     cruise missiles pose new, direct threats to deployed U.S. 
     forces.''
       It is now my understanding that China is about to deliver 
     the land variant of the C-802 to Iran. When the Iranian 
     Revolutionary Guard acquires C-802s in quantity, it will have 
     a weapon with greater range, reliability, accuracy, and 
     mobility than anything currently in its inventory.
       The delivery of advanced cruise missiles to Iran is a 
     violation of the Gore-McCain Act. However, in answer to my 
     query on this issue in January, you answered, ``The 
     Administration has concluded at present that the known 
     transfers (of C-802s) are not of a destabilizing number and 
     type.''
       However, I believe that the arrival of additional C-802s in 
     Iran is a matter of grave concern to the United States, and 
     the Administration has an obligation either to sanction the 
     perpetrators or put in motion an alternative policy of 
     equivalent strength.
           Sincerely,
                                                Robert F. Bennett,
     U.S. Senator.
                                                                    ____


                            C-802 FACT SHEET

       U.S.S. Stark: American Navy escort vessel struck by two 
     Exocet type cruise missiles in May 1987 killing 37 sailors 
     and disabling the ship for sixteen months.
       C-802: Chinese cruise missile similar to the Exocet and 
     marketed for use against naval escort vessels. According to 
     its manufacturer, the China National Precision Instrument 
     Import-Export Corporation, the C-802 is characterized by 
     ``mighty attack capability, great firepower.'' It has a range 
     of 120 km [75 miles] and a high explosive warhead of 165 kg 
     [363 lbs.].
       Iranian Revolutionary Guard Navy: Iran is believed to 
     possess sixty C-802 missiles aboard 15 Chinese and French 
     missile boats.
       Land-based Variant: Iran is believed to be acquiring an 
     undetermined number of C-802 missiles which will be mounted 
     on Transporter-Erector-Launchers [TELs]. For over a year Iran 
     has been constructing tunnels and other fortifications along 
     its Persian Gulf and Gulf of Oman coastlines which could 
     accommodate these TELs.
       Threat to U.S. forces: 15,000 U.S. servicemen and women are 
     potentially within range of these missiles. On April 11, 
     Deputy Assistant Secretary of State Robert Einhorn told the 
     Senate Governmental Affairs Committee, ``These cruise 
     missiles pose new and direct threats to deployed U.S. 
     Forces.'' During 1996 Admiral Scott Redd, Commander-in-Chief 
     of the U.S. Fifth Fleet declared the missiles to be a ``360 
     degree threat which can come at you from basically anywhere 
     at sea in the gulf or out in the Gulf of Oman.''
       U.S. Law: The Iran-Iraq Arms Non-Proliferation Act of 1992 
     (50 U.S.C. 1701 note) prohibits foreign persons from 
     delivering advanced conventional weapons, including cruise 
     missiles, to Iran.
       Administration Position: The Administration ``has concluded 
     at present that the known types [of C-802 missiles] are not 
     of a destabilizing number and type.''
       [Sources: New York Times, various Jane's publications]

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