[Congressional Record Volume 159, Number 110 (Monday, July 29, 2013)]
[Senate]
[Pages S6026-S6027]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
SUPPORTING PEACEFUL RESOLUTION OF DISPUTES IN THE ASIA-PACIFIC MARITIME
DOMAINS
Mr. REID. I ask unanimous consent that the Senate proceed to the
immediate consideration of Calendar No. 97, S. Res. 167.
The PRESIDING OFFICER. The clerk will report the resolution by title.
The bill clerk read as follows:
A resolution (S. Res. 167) reaffirming the strong support of the
United States for the peaceful resolution of territorial, sovereignty,
and jurisdictional disputes in the Asia-Pacific maritime domains.
There being no objection, the Senate proceeded to consider the
resolution.
Mr. REID. I further ask that the resolution be agreed to; the
Feinstein amendment to the preamble which is at the desk be agreed to;
the preamble, as amended, be agreed to; and the motions to reconsider
be considered made and laid upon the table with no intervening action
or debate.
The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without objection, it is so ordered.
The resolution (S. Res. 167) was agreed to.
The amendment (No. 1819) was agreed to, as follows:
Insert after the third whereas clause of the preamble the
following:
Whereas although the United States does not take a position
on competing territorial claims over land features and
maritime boundaries, it does have a strong and long-standing
interest in the manner in which disputes in the South China
Sea are addressed and in the conduct of the parties;
Insert after the ninth whereas clause of the preamble the
following:
Whereas, on June 21, 2013, the Governments of the People's
Republic of China and Vietnam announced that they had agreed
to set up and use an emergency fishery hotline to inform each
other of any detainment involving fishermen or boats within
48 hours, to help quickly resolve disputes and as part of
efforts to prevent future incidents from derailing ties, and
the Governments of the People's Republic of China and
Indonesia on May 2, 2013, agreed to establish a hotline for
incidents in their disputed waters;
In the thirteenth whereas clause of the preamble, strike
``declaring the Senakaku Islands a ``core interest'',''.
Insert after the thirteenth whereas clause of the preamble
the following:
Whereas, on April 27, 2013, Chinese Foreign Ministry
spokeswoman, Hua Chunying, was quoted as saying, ``The Diaoyu
Islands are about sovereignty and territorial integrity. Of
course it's China's core interest.'';
In the seventeenth whereas clause of the preamble, strike
``; and'' and insert a semicolon.
In the eighteenth whereas clause of the preamble, strike
the colon at the end and insert a semicolon.
Insert after the eighteenth whereas clause of the preamble
the following:
Whereas ASEAN and China announced on June 30, 2013, that
official consultations on a Code of Conduct in the South
China Sea will commence at the 6th Senior Officials' Meeting
and the 9th Joint Working Group on the Implementation of the
Declaration of Conduct of the Parties in the SCS, to be held
in China in September 2013; Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi
reaffirmed that China was willing to advance talks on a code
of conduct as part of a ``continual, gradual and deepening
process''; and Secretary of State John F. Kerry,
participating in the ASEAN Regional Forum Ministerial Meeting
on July 2, 2013, expressed the hope that announcement of
official consultations between ASEAN and China would be the
beginning of sustained and substantive official engagement
between the two on developing the new Code of Conduct; and
Whereas, from June 17-20, 2013, the 10 ASEAN members and
their dialogue partners Australia, China, India, Japan, New
Zealand, Russia, South Korea, and the United States jointly
participated in the First ASEAN Defense Ministers' Meeting
Plus Humanitarian Assistance and Disaster Relief (HADR) and
Military Medicine (MM) exercise, helping to establish a new
pattern of cooperation among the militaries of the Asia-
Pacific:
The preamble, as amended, was agreed to.
The resolution, with its preamble, as amended, reads as follows:
S. Res. 167
Whereas the maritime domain of the Asia-Pacific region
includes critical sea lines of communication and commerce
between the Pacific and Indian oceans;
Whereas the United States has a national interest in
freedom of navigation and overflight in the Asia-Pacific
maritime domains, as provided for by universally recognized
principles of international law;
Whereas the United States has a national interest in the
maintenance of peace and stability, open access by all to
maritime domains, respect for universally recognized
principles of international law, prosperity and economic
growth, and unimpeded lawful commerce;
Whereas although the United States does not take a position
on competing territorial claims over land features and
maritime boundaries, it does have a strong and long-standing
interest in the manner in which disputes in the South China
Sea are addressed and in the conduct of the parties;
Whereas the United States has a clear interest in
encouraging and supporting the nations of the region to work
collaboratively and diplomatically to resolve disputes
without coercion, without intimidation, without threats, and
without the use of force;
Whereas the South China Sea contains great natural
resources, and their stewardship and responsible use offers
immense potential benefit for generations to come;
Whereas in recent years, there have been numerous dangerous
and destabilizing incidents in this region, including Chinese
vessels cutting the seismic survey cables of a Vietnamese oil
exploration ship in May 2011;
[[Page S6027]]
Chinese vessels barricading the entrance to the Scarborough
Reef lagoon in April 2012; China issuing an official map that
newly defines the contested ``nine-dash line'' as China's
national border; and, since May 8, 2013, Chinese naval and
marine surveillance ships maintaining a regular presence in
waters around the Second Thomas Shoal, located approximately
105 nautical miles northwest of the Philippine island of
Palawan;
Whereas the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN)
has promoted multilateral talks on disputed areas without
settling the issue of sovereignty, and in 2002 joined with
China in signing a Declaration on the Conduct of Parties in
the South China Sea that committed all parties to those
territorial disputes to ``reaffirm their respect for and
commitment to the freedom of navigation in and over flight
above the South China Sea as provided for by the universally
recognized principles of international law'' and to ``resolve
their territorial and jurisdictional disputes by peaceful
means, without resorting to the threat or use of force'';
Whereas Japan and Taiwan reached an agreement on April 10,
2013, to jointly share and administer the fishing resources
in their overlapping claimed exclusive economic zones in the
East China Sea, an important breakthrough after 17 years of
negotiations and a model for other such agreements;
Whereas other incidences of the joint administrations of
resources in disputed waters in the South China Sea have de-
escalated tensions and promoted economic development, such as
Malaysia and Brunei's 2009 agreement to partner on exploring
offshore Brunei waters, with drilling in offshore oil and gas
fields off Brunei beginning in 2011; and Thailand and
Vietnam's agreement to jointly develop areas of the Gulf of
Thailand for gas exports, despite ongoing territorial
disputes;
Whereas, on June 21, 2013, the Governments of the People's
Republic of China and Vietnam announced that they had agreed
to set up and use an emergency fishery hotline to inform each
other of any detainment involving fishermen or boats within
48 hours, to help quickly resolve disputes and as part of
efforts to prevent future incidents from derailing ties, and
the Governments of the People's Republic of China and
Indonesia on May 2, 2013, agreed to establish a hotline for
incidents in their disputed waters;
Whereas the Government of the Republic of the Philippines
states that it ``has exhausted almost all political and
diplomatic avenues for a peaceful negotiated settlement of
its maritime dispute with China'' and in his statement of
January 23, 2013, Republic of Philippines Secretary of
Foreign Affairs Del Rosario stated that therefore ``the
Philippines has taken the step of bringing China before the
Arbitral Tribunal under Article 287 and Annex VII of the 1982
Convention on the Law of the Sea in order to achieve a
peaceful and durable solution to the dispute'';
Whereas, in January 2013, a Chinese naval ship allegedly
fixed its weapons-targeting radar on Japanese vessels in the
vicinity of the Senkaku islands, and, on April 23, 2013,
eight Chinese marine surveillance ships entered the 12-
nautical-mile territorial zone off the Senkaku Islands,
further escalating regional tensions;
Whereas, on May 8, 2013, the Chinese Communist Party's main
newspaper, The People's Daily, published an article by
several Chinese scholars questioning Japan's sovereignty over
Okinawa, where key United States military installations are
located which contribute to preserving security and stability
in the Asia-Pacific region;
Whereas the Government of the People's Republic of China
has recently taken other unilateral steps, including
``improperly drawing'' baselines around the Senkaku Islands
in September 2102, which the 2013 Annual Report to Congress
on Military and Security Developments Involving the People's
Republic of China found to be ``inconsistent with
international law'', and maintaining a continuous military
and paramilitary presence around the Senkaku Islands;
Whereas, on April 27, 2013, Chinese Foreign Ministry
spokeswoman, Hua Chunying, was quoted as saying, ``The Diaoyu
Islands are about sovereignty and territorial integrity. Of
course it's China's core interest.'';
Whereas although the United States does not take a position
on the ultimate sovereignty of the Senkaku Islands, the
United States Government acknowledges that they are under the
administration of Japan and opposes any unilateral actions
that would seek to undermine such administration, affirms
that the unilateral actions of a third party will not affect
the United States acknowledgment of the administration of
Japan over the Senkaku Islands, remains committed under the
Treaty of Mutual Cooperation and Security to respond to any
armed attack in the territories under the administration of
Japan, and has urged all parties to take steps to prevent
incidents and manage disagreements through peaceful means;
Whereas, on August 3, 2012, a Department of State
spokesperson expressed concern over ``China's upgrading of
the administrative level of Sansha City and the establishment
of a new military garrison there,'' encouraged ASEAN and
China ``to make meaningful progress toward finalizing a
comprehensive Code of Conduct,'' and called upon claimants to
``explore every diplomatic or other peaceful avenue for
resolution, including the use of arbitration or other
international legal mechanisms as needed'';
Whereas the United States recognizes the importance of
strong, cohesive, and integrated regional institutions,
including the East Asia Summit (EAS), ASEAN, and the Asia-
Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) forum, as foundation for
effective regional frameworks to promote peace and security
and economic growth, including in the maritime domain, and to
ensure that the Asia-Pacific community develops rules-based
regional norms which discourage coercion and the use of
force;
Whereas the United States welcomes the development of a
peaceful and prosperous China, the government of which
respects international norms, international laws,
international institutions, and international rules; enhances
security and peace; and seeks to advance a ``new model'' of
relations between the United States and China;
Whereas ASEAN plays an important role, in partnership with
others in the regional and international community, in
addressing maritime security issues in the Asia-Pacific
region and into the Indian Ocean, including open access to
the maritime domain of Asia;
Whereas ASEAN and China announced on June 30, 2013, that
official consultations on a Code of Conduct in the South
China Sea will commence at the 6th Senior Officials' Meeting
and the 9th Joint Working Group on the Implementation of the
Declaration of Conduct of the Parties in the SCS, to be held
in China in September 2013; Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi
reaffirmed that China was willing to advance talks on a code
of conduct as part of a ``continual, gradual and deepening
process''; and Secretary of State John F. Kerry,
participating in the ASEAN Regional Forum Ministerial Meeting
on July 2, 2013, expressed the hope that announcement of
official consultations between ASEAN and China would be the
beginning of sustained and substantive official engagement
between the two on developing the new Code of Conduct; and
Whereas, from June 17-20, 2013, the 10 ASEAN members and
their dialogue partners Australia, China, India, Japan, New
Zealand, Russia, South Korea, and the United States jointly
participated in the First ASEAN Defense Ministers' Meeting
Plus Humanitarian Assistance and Disaster Relief (HADR) and
Military Medicine (MM) exercise, helping to establish a new
pattern of cooperation among the militaries of the Asia-
Pacific: Now, therefore, be it
Resolved, That the Senate--
(1) condemns the use of coercion, threats, or force by
naval, maritime security, or fishing vessels and military or
civilian aircraft in the South China Sea and the East China
Sea to assert disputed maritime or territorial claims or
alter the status quo;
(2) strongly urges that all parties to maritime and
territorial disputes in the region exercise self-restraint in
the conduct of activities that would undermine stability or
complicate or escalate disputes, including refraining from
inhabiting presently uninhabited islands, reefs, shoals, and
other features and handle their differences in a constructive
manner;
(3) reaffirms the strong support of the United States for
the member states of ASEAN and the Government of the People's
Republic of China as they seek to develop a code of conduct
of parties in the South China Sea, and urges all countries to
substantively support ASEAN in its efforts in this regard;
(4) supports collaborative diplomatic processes by all
claimants in the South China Sea for resolving outstanding
maritime or territorial disputes, in a manner that maintains
peace and security, adheres to international law, and
protects unimpeded lawful commerce as well as freedom of
navigation and overflight, and including through
international arbitration, allowing parties to peacefully
settle claims and disputes using universally recognized
principles of international law;
(5) encourages the deepening of efforts by the United
States Government to develop partnerships with other
countries in the region for maritime domain awareness and
capacity building; and
(6) supports the continuation of operations by the United
States Armed Forces in the Western Pacific, including in
partnership with the armed forces of other countries in the
region, in support of freedom of navigation, the maintenance
of peace and stability, and respect for universally
recognized principles of international law, including the
peaceful resolution of issues of sovereignty and unimpeded
lawful commerce.
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