[Congressional Record Volume 162, Number 24 (Wednesday, February 10, 2016)]
[Senate]
[Pages S825-S827]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                         SUBMITTED RESOLUTIONS

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SENATE RESOLUTION 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

  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:

                              S. Res. 370

       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 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

[[Page S826]]

     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 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-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, multi-sectoral sub-regional 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 combatting 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 
     anti-corruption 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--
       (A) to 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;

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       (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 sub-regional 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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