[Congressional Record Volume 169, Number 32 (Thursday, February 16, 2023)]
[Senate]
[Pages S463-S464]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




  SENATE RESOLUTION 75--REAFFIRMING THE STATE OF ARUNACHAL PRADESH AS 
   INDIAN TERRITORY AND CONDEMNING THE PEOPLE'S REPUBLIC OF CHINA'S 
                       PROVOCATIONS IN SOUTH ASIA

  Mr. MERKLEY (for himself, Mr. Hagerty, and Mr. Cornyn) submitted the 
following resolution; which was referred to the Committee on Foreign 
Relations:

                               S. Res. 75

       Whereas, since the Sino-Indian war of 1962, the United 
     States has recognized the McMahon Line as the international 
     boundary between the People's Republic of China and the 
     Indian state of Arunachal Pradesh;
       Whereas the United States recognizes the state of Arunachal 
     Pradesh not as disputed territory but as an integral part of 
     the Republic of India, and this recognition is not qualified 
     in any way;
       Whereas the Government of the People's Republic of China 
     claims Arunachal Pradesh as its own territory, which it calls 
     ``South Tibet'', and has invoked these claims as part of its 
     increasingly aggressive and expansionist policies;
       Whereas, in December 2021, the People's Republic of China's 
     Ministry of Civil Affairs published a detailed map of the 
     Indian state of Arunachal Pradesh which assigned Mandarin-
     language names to 15 geographic features, including eight 
     residential settlements, four mountain peaks, two rivers, and 
     one mountain pass, as well as the names of the administrative 
     regions where each of these are located;
       Whereas, in December 2022, People's Republic of China and 
     Indian troops engaged in a skirmish in Arunachal Pradesh 
     along the Line of Actual Control, the biggest clash in the 
     Eastern Sector in six years;
       Whereas the People's Liberation Army engaged in provocative 
     moves in the Western Sector along the Line of Actual Control 
     starting in April 2020, including increasing troop 
     deployments, building new infrastructure in contested areas, 
     and harassing Indian patrols, particularly around the Depsang 
     Plains, Galwan Valley, Hot Springs, and Pangong Lake;
       Whereas these provocations by the People's Republic of 
     China upended then-improving India-China relations and 
     ultimately led to the Galwan Valley clash in June 2020, which 
     resulted in the death of 20 Indian soldiers;
       Whereas the People's Republic of China has constructed two 
     Chinese villages close to the Line of Actual Control near 
     Arunachal Pradesh and expanded its territorial claims in 
     Bhutanese territory in the Eastern Sector;
       Whereas Arunachal Pradesh contains the Buddhist town of 
     Tawang, home to the revered Tawang Monastery and is the 
     birthplace of the sixth Dalai Lama, Tsangyang Gyatso;
       Whereas the People's Republic of China has raised 
     diplomatic objections to visits to Arunachal Pradesh by the 
     Dalai Lama and other leaders and has refused to grant 
     residents of the Indian state visas for travel to China;
       Whereas the provocations by the People's Republic of China 
     impede poverty alleviation and economic development in 
     Arunachal Pradesh, where nearly 25 percent of the population 
     lives in multidimensional poverty according to India's 2021 
     National Multidimensional Poverty Index, leading many 
     international donors to be cautious of providing assistance 
     due to the state's perceived status as disputed territory;
       Whereas the Government of India has increased its funding 
     for border infrastructure to improve accessibility in 
     Arunachal Pradesh, as well as for village infrastructure, 
     housing, tourist centers, road connectivity, and 
     decentralized renewable energy production through India's 
     Vibrant Villages program;
       Whereas the Government of India has taken steps to defend 
     itself from aggression and security threats from the People's 
     Republic of China, including through securing its 
     telecommunications infrastructure and conducting investment 
     screening;
       Whereas it is in the interest of the United States to work 
     both bilaterally with India through our Comprehensive Global 
     Strategic Partnership, as well as multilaterally through the 
     Quad with Japan and Australia, and through the I2U2 with 
     Israel and the United Arab Emirates;
       Whereas there is significant and continuing progress in the 
     U.S.-India Major Defense Partnership, including ambitions for 
     building an advanced and comprehensive defense partnership in 
     which the armed forces of the United States and India 
     coordinate across all domains; and
       Whereas the Government of India is playing a significant 
     leadership role on the global stage, including as part of its 
     G20 presidency in 2023: Now, therefore, be it
       Resolved, That the Senate--
       (1) unequivocally recognizes the state of Arunachal Pradesh 
     as an integral part of the Republic of India and supports the 
     country's sovereignty and territorial integrity;
       (2) condemns the People's Republic of China's use of 
     military force to change the status quo along the Line of 
     Actual Control, as well as additional provocations including 
     the construction of villages in contested areas, expansion of 
     territorial claims in Bhutan, and publication of maps 
     assigning Mandarin-language names to cities and features in 
     the Indian state of Arunachal Pradesh;
       (3) commends the Government of India for taking steps to 
     defend itself against aggression and security threats from 
     the People's Republic of China, including through securing 
     its telecommunications infrastructure, examining its 
     procurement processes and supply chains, implementing 
     investment screening standards, and expanding its cooperation 
     with Taiwan in public health and other sectors;

[[Page S464]]

       (4) supports, as part of a joint vision for a free and open 
     Indo-Pacific, India's continued defense modernization, 
     including its diversification away from countries that fail 
     to respect the sovereignty and territorial integrity of other 
     nations;
       (5) applauds the Government of India for increasing its 
     development efforts in Arunachal Pradesh, including for 
     improving border infrastructure, connectivity, and energy 
     security, including renewable energy production;
       (6) commits to deepening United States assistance to the 
     region, including through the Department of State and the 
     United States Agency for International Development using 
     funding mechanisms such as the Countering PRC Influence Fund;
       (7) encourages like-minded international partners and 
     donors to likewise bolster their assistance efforts to 
     Arunachal Pradesh;
       (8) supports further strengthening the United States-India 
     bilateral partnership, including through enhanced defense 
     interoperability and information-sharing especially for early 
     warning systems, the United States-India Initiative on 
     Critical and Emerging Technology, further economic 
     cooperation, and our broad and long-standing people-to-people 
     ties; and
       (9) promotes enhancing our multilateral cooperation with 
     India through the Quad, the East Asia Summit alongside our 
     partners in the Association for Southeast Asian Nations, and 
     other international fora.

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