[Congressional Record Volume 161, Number 79 (Thursday, May 21, 2015)]
[Senate]
[Pages S3244-S3245]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                         SUBMITTED RESOLUTIONS

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   SENATE RESOLUTION 183--CALLING FOR SUSPENSION OF CONSTRUCTION OF 
    ARTIFICIAL LAND FORMATIONS ON ISLANDS, REEFS, SHOALS, AND OTHER 
  FEATURES OF THE SPRATLY ISLANDS AND FOR A PEACEFUL AND MULTILATERAL 
         RESOLUTION TO THE SOUTH CHINA SEA TERRITORIAL DISPUTE

  Mr. SCHATZ (for himself, Mr. McCain, and Mr. Sullivan) submitted the 
following resolution; which was referred to the Committee on Foreign 
Relations:

                              S. Res. 183

       Whereas the United States Government strongly supports the 
     peaceful resolution of territorial, sovereignty, and 
     jurisdictional disputes in the South China Sea;
       Whereas the South China Sea includes critical sea lines of 
     communication and commerce between the Pacific and Indian 
     oceans;
       Whereas the United States Government has a national 
     interest in freedom of navigation and overflight in the South 
     China Sea, as provided for by customary principles of 
     international law;
       Whereas the United States Government is also committed to 
     upholding internationally lawful uses of the high seas and 
     the Exclusive Economic Zones as well as to the related rights 
     and freedoms in other maritime zones, including the rights of 
     innocent passage, transit passage, and archipelagic sea lanes 
     passage consistent with customary international law;
       Whereas the United States has an interest in encouraging 
     and supporting the nations of the region to work 
     collaboratively and diplomatically to resolve disputes 
     without coercion, intimidation, threats, or the use of force;
       Whereas the United States further supports the efforts of 
     states to resolve their disputes in accordance with 
     international

[[Page S3245]]

     law, including through internationally recognized legal 
     dispute settlement mechanisms, and urges the full 
     implementation of any decisions rendered by the relevant 
     courts and tribunals which are binding on them;
       Whereas the South China Sea potentially contains great 
     natural resources, and their stewardship and responsible use 
     offers immense potential benefit for generations to come;
       Whereas Brunei, Malaysia, China, Taiwan, Vietnam, and the 
     Philippines have overlapping territorial, sovereignty, and 
     jurisdictional claim to all or some of the Spratly Islands;
       Whereas, on January 23, 2013, the Philippines launched an 
     arbitration process under an existing international mechanism 
     challenging China's claim of a `nine dash line' around the 
     South China Sea;
       Whereas, although the United States does not take a 
     position on competing territorial claims over land features 
     and maritime boundaries of the Spratly Islands, 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, even while the Government of the People's Republic 
     of China has refused to participate in formal arbitration 
     with the Government of the Philippines, it should comply with 
     any international ruling on competing territorial claims with 
     the Philippines in the South China Sea;
       Whereas, in recent years, the Government of the People's 
     Republic of China has engaged in unilateral land reclamation 
     and construction activities in the Spratly Islands that 
     undermines regional stability and is counter to multilateral 
     efforts for peaceful resolution of territorial, sovereignty, 
     and jurisdictional disputes in the South China Sea;
       Whereas, although other claimants to the Spratly Islands 
     have built small outposts and have engaged in minor 
     maintenance on features they already occupy, in less than one 
     year the Government of the People's Republic of China has 
     rapidly exceeded all preceding activities and acted on a much 
     larger scale;
       Whereas, on November 4, 2002, the governments of the member 
     states of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) 
     and the Government of the People's Republic of China signed a 
     Declaration on the Conduct of Parties in the South China Sea 
     that, among other things, declared, ``The Parties undertake 
     to exercise self-restraint in the conduct of activities that 
     would complicate or escalate disputes and affect peace and 
     stability including, among others, refraining from action of 
     inhabiting on the presently uninhabited islands, reefs, 
     shoals, cays, and other features and to handle their 
     differences in a constructive manner.'';
       Whereas China's land reclamation is estimated to cost the 
     region's littoral states $100,000,000 a year due to damage to 
     the ecosystem and the degradation of fish stocks;
       Whereas, on March 23, 2015, satellite imagery showed the 
     Government of the People's Republic of China building a 
     concrete runway on the Fiery Cross Reef that is expected to 
     be 10,000 feet long and give the Chinese military the 
     capability to land fighter jets and surveillance jets, which 
     is destabilizing to regional peace and stability;
       Whereas satellite imagery also showed the Government of the 
     People's Republic of China unilaterally constructing island 
     territory on Subi Reef that, if connected, would support an 
     additional airstrip;
       Whereas satellite imagery also showed that Woody Island and 
     Duncan Island have grown significantly due to Chinese land 
     reclamation activities;
       Whereas, a March 16, 2015, image published by the Center 
     for Strategic and International Studies showed that the 
     Government of the People's Republic of China constructed a 
     chain of artificial land formations, new structures, 
     fortified sea walls, and construction equipment along 
     Mischief Reef, an area claimed by the Philippines and within 
     its Exclusive Economic Zone;
       Whereas, in April 2015, the United States Office of Naval 
     Intelligence published a report on the Chinese People's 
     Liberation Army Navy showing that the Government of the 
     People's Republic of China has reclaimed hundreds of acres of 
     land at the seven features it occupies in the Spratly Islands 
     throughout 2014 and stated that China ``appears to be 
     building much larger facilities that could support naval 
     operations.'';
       Whereas, on April 6, 2015, Secretary of Defense Ash Carter 
     noted deep concerns regarding some of the activities of the 
     Government of the People's Republic of China, including ``its 
     behavior in places like the East and South China Seas.'';
       Whereas, on April 9, 2015, President Barack Obama stated, 
     ``Where [the United States gets] concerned with China is 
     where it is not necessarily abiding by international norms 
     and rules, and is using its size and muscle to force 
     countries into subordinate positions. And that's the concern 
     we have around maritime issues.'';
       Whereas, on April 16, 2015, the Commander of United States 
     Pacific Command, Admiral Locklear, stated that Chinese land 
     reclamation activities in the South China Sea ``would give 
     them de facto control in peacetime of much of the world's 
     most important waterways''; that China could place ``long-
     range detection radars'' on the outposts in order to place 
     more warships there; and that Southeast Asian nations are 
     increasingly worried that China's new capabilities will allow 
     it take de facto control of the surrounding waters;
       Whereas adding a military dimension to the territorial 
     dispute exacerbates the risks of misperceptions, accidents, 
     and other dangerous incidents in the Spratly Islands;
       Whereas, on April 9, 2015, Chinese Foreign Ministry 
     spokeswoman, Hua Chunying, was quoted as saying, ``After the 
     construction, the islands and reefs will be able to provide 
     all-round and comprehensive services to meet various civilian 
     demands besides satisfying the need of necessary military 
     defense.'';
       Whereas ASEAN has promoted multilateral talks on disputed 
     areas without settling the issue of sovereignty, and 
     committed with China in the 2002 Declaration on the Conduct 
     of Parties in the South China Sea 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 the reclamation activities of the Government of the 
     People's Republic of China threaten ASEAN unity and its 
     multilateral efforts to promote peaceful reconciliation of 
     territorial, sovereignty, and jurisdictional disputes in the 
     Spratly Islands and the broader South China Sea; and
       Whereas, on January 28, 2015, Philippine Foreign Secretary 
     Alberto del Rosario urged ASEAN ``to consider reaching out to 
     the international community to say to China that what it is 
     doing is wrong--that it must stop its reclamation activities 
     at once'': Now, therefore, be it
       Resolved, That the Senate--
       (1) condemns the Government of the People's Republic of 
     China's unilateral construction of artificial land formations 
     in the disputed Spratly Islands;
       (2) strongly urges all parties to maritime and territorial 
     disputes in the region to respect the status quo, exercise 
     self-restraint in the conduct of activities that would 
     undermine stability or complicate or escalate disputes, 
     refrain from inhabiting or garrisoning presently uninhabited 
     islands, reefs, shoals, and other features, and refrain from 
     unilateral actions that cause permanent physical change to 
     the marine environment in areas pending final delimitation;
       (3) urges the Government of the People's Republic of China 
     to clarify the meaning of its ``nine dash line'' claim and 
     the maritime areas it claims within that space;
       (4) further urges the Government of the People's Republic 
     of China to clarify its intentions with respect to 
     establishing ``necessary military defense'' on reclaimed 
     features and condemns the militarization of disputed 
     features;
       (5) supports efforts by parties to maritime and territorial 
     disputes to handle their differences in a constructive manner 
     and pursue their claims through peaceful, diplomatic, and 
     legitimate regional and international arbitration mechanisms;
       (6) reaffirms the strong support of the United States for 
     the member states of ASEAN as they seek to develop a code of 
     conduct of parties in the South China Sea with the People's 
     Republic of China, and urges China to enter into such 
     negotiations in a serious manner;
       (7) supports efforts to strengthen regional maritime domain 
     awareness;
       (8) supports efforts to strengthen maritime partner 
     capacity, including through the sale and transfer of 
     technology that promotes maritime domain awareness; and
       (9) supports the continuation of operations by the United 
     States Armed Forces in support of freedom of navigation 
     rights in international waters and air space in the South 
     China Sea.

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