[Congressional Record Volume 170, Number 115 (Thursday, July 11, 2024)]
[Senate]
[Pages S4802-S4804]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
SA 2481. Mr. RUBIO submitted an amendment intended to be proposed by
him to the bill S. 4638, to authorize appropriations for fiscal year
2025 for military activities of the Department of Defense, for military
construction, and for defense activities of the Department of Energy,
to prescribe military personnel strengths for such fiscal year, and for
other purposes; which was ordered to lie on the table; as follows:
At the end of title XII, add the following:
Subtitle G--South China Sea and East China Sea Sanctions Act of 2024
SEC. 1291. SHORT TITLE.
This subtitle may be cited as the ``South China Sea and
East China Sea Sanctions Act of 2024''.
SEC. 1292. SANCTIONS WITH RESPECT TO CHINESE PERSONS
RESPONSIBLE FOR CHINA'S ACTIVITIES IN THE SOUTH
CHINA SEA AND THE EAST CHINA SEA.
(a) Initial Imposition of Sanctions.--On and after the date
that is 120 days after the date of the enactment of this Act,
the President may impose the sanctions described in
subsection (b) with respect to any Chinese person, including
any senior official of the Government of the People's
Republic of China, that the President determines--
(1) is responsible for or significantly contributes to
large-scale reclamation, construction, militarization, or
ongoing supply of outposts in disputed areas of the South
China Sea;
(2) is responsible for or significantly contributes to, or
has engaged in, directly or indirectly, actions, including
the use of coercion, to inhibit another country from
protecting its sovereign rights to access offshore resources
in the South China Sea, including in such country's exclusive
economic
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zone, consistent with such country's rights and obligations
under international law;
(3) is responsible for or complicit in, or has engaged in,
directly or indirectly, actions that significantly threaten
the peace, security, or stability of disputed areas of the
South China Sea or areas of the East China Sea administered
by Japan or the Republic of Korea, including through the use
of vessels and aircraft by the People's Republic of China to
occupy or conduct extensive research or drilling activity in
those areas;
(4) has materially assisted, sponsored, or provided
financial, material, or technological support for, or goods
or services to, or in support of, any person subject to
sanctions pursuant to paragraph (1), (2), or (3); or
(5) is owned or controlled by, or has acted for or on
behalf of, directly or indirectly, any person subject to
sanctions pursuant to paragraph (1), (2), or (3).
(b) Sanctions Described.--The sanctions that may be imposed
with respect to a person described in subsection (a) are the
following:
(1) Blocking of property.--The President may, in accordance
with the International Emergency Economic Powers Act (50
U.S.C. 1701 et seq.), block and prohibit all transactions in
all property and interests in property of the person if such
property and interests in property are in the United States,
come within the United States, or are or come within the
possession or control of a United States person.
(2) Ineligibility for visas, admission, or parole.--
(A) Visas, admission, or parole.--In the case of an alien,
the alien may be--
(i) inadmissible to the United States;
(ii) ineligible to receive a visa or other documentation to
enter the United States; and
(iii) otherwise ineligible to be admitted or paroled into
the United States or to receive any other benefit under the
Immigration and Nationality Act (8 U.S.C. 1101 et seq.).
(B) Current visas revoked.--
(i) In general.--An alien described in subparagraph (A) may
be subject to revocation of any visa or other entry
documentation regardless of when the visa or other entry
documentation is or was issued.
(ii) Immediate effect.--A revocation under clause (i) may--
(I) take effect immediately; and
(II) cancel any other valid visa or entry documentation
that is in the alien's possession.
(3) Exclusion of corporate officers.--The President may
direct the Secretary of State to deny a visa to, and the
Secretary of Homeland Security to exclude from the United
States, any alien that the President determines is a
corporate officer or principal of, or a shareholder with a
controlling interest in, the person.
(4) Export sanction.--The President may order the United
States Government not to issue any specific license and not
to grant any other specific permission or authority to export
any goods or technology to the person under--
(A) the Export Control Reform Act of 2018 (50 U.S.C. 4801
et seq.); or
(B) any other statute that requires the prior review and
approval of the United States Government as a condition for
the export or reexport of goods or services.
(5) Inclusion on entity list.--The President may include
the entity on the entity list maintained by the Bureau of
Industry and Security of the Department of Commerce and set
forth in Supplement No. 4 to part 744 of the Export
Administration Regulations, for activities contrary to the
national security or foreign policy interests of the United
States.
(6) Ban on investment in equity or debt of sanctioned
person.--The President may, pursuant to such regulations or
guidelines as the President may prescribe, prohibit any
United States person from investing in or purchasing equity
or debt instruments of the person.
(7) Banking transactions.--The President may, pursuant to
such regulations as the President may prescribe, prohibit any
transfers of credit or payments between financial
institutions or by, through, or to any financial institution,
to the extent that such transfers or payments are subject to
the jurisdiction of the United States and involve any
interest of the person.
(8) Correspondent and payable-through accounts.--In the
case of a foreign financial institution, the President may
prohibit the opening, and prohibit or impose strict
conditions on the maintaining, in the United States of a
correspondent account or a payable-through account by the
foreign financial institution.
(c) Exceptions.--
(1) Inapplicability of national emergency requirement.--The
requirements of section 202 of the International Emergency
Economic Powers Act (50 U.S.C. 1701) shall not apply for
purposes of subsection (b)(1).
(2) Exception for intelligence, law enforcement, and
national security activities.--Sanctions under this section
shall not apply to any authorized intelligence, law
enforcement, or national security activities of the United
States.
(3) Compliance with united nations headquarters
agreement.--Paragraphs (2) and (3) of subsection (b) shall
not apply if admission of an alien to the United States is
necessary to permit the United States to comply with the
Agreement regarding the Headquarters of the United Nations,
signed at Lake Success, June 26, 1947, and entered into
force, November 21, 1947, between the United Nations and the
United States.
(4) Exception relating to importation of goods.--
(A) In general.--The authority or a requirement to impose
sanctions under this section shall not include the authority
or a requirement to impose sanctions on the importation of
goods.
(B) Good defined.--In this paragraph, the term ``good''
means any article, natural or manmade substance, material,
supply, or manufactured product, including inspection and
test equipment, and excluding technical data.
(d) Implementation; Penalties.--
(1) Implementation.--The President may exercise all
authorities provided under sections 203 and 205 of the
International Emergency Economic Powers Act (50 U.S.C. 1702
and 1704) to carry out this section.
(2) Penalties.--The penalties provided for in subsections
(b) and (c) of section 206 of the International Emergency
Economic Powers Act (50 U.S.C. 1705) shall apply to a person
that violates, attempts to violate, conspires to violate, or
causes a violation of regulations prescribed under subsection
(b)(1) to the same extent that such penalties apply to a
person that commits an unlawful act described in subsection
(a) of such section 206.
(e) Definitions.--In this section:
(1) Account; correspondent account; payable-through
account.--The terms ``account'', ``correspondent account'',
and ``payable-through account'' have the meanings given those
terms in section 5318A of title 31, United States Code.
(2) Alien.--The term ``alien'' has the meaning given that
term in section 101(a) of the Immigration and Nationality Act
(8 U.S.C. 1101(a)).
(3) Chinese person.--The term ``Chinese person'' means--
(A) an individual who is a citizen or national of the
People's Republic of China; or
(B) an entity organized under the laws of the People's
Republic of China or otherwise subject to the jurisdiction of
the Government of the People's Republic of China.
(4) Financial institution.--The term ``financial
institution'' means a financial institution specified in
subparagraph (A), (B), (C), (D), (E), (F), (G), (H), (I),
(J), (K), (M), (N), (P), (R), (T), (Y), or (Z) of section
5312(a)(2) of title 31, United States Code.
(5) Foreign financial institution.--The term ``foreign
financial institution'' has the meaning given that term in
section 1010.605 of title 31, Code of Federal Regulations (or
any corresponding similar regulation or ruling).
(6) Person.--The term ``person'' means any individual or
entity.
(7) United states person.--The term ``United States
person'' means--
(A) a United States citizen or an alien lawfully admitted
for permanent residence to the United States;
(B) an entity organized under the laws of the United States
or of any jurisdiction within the United States, including a
foreign branch of such an entity; or
(C) any person in the United States.
SEC. 1293. SENSE OF CONGRESS REGARDING PORTRAYALS OF THE
SOUTH CHINA SEA OR THE EAST CHINA SEA AS PART
OF CHINA.
It is the sense of Congress that the Government Publishing
Office should not publish any map, document, record,
electronic resource, or other paper of the United States
(other than materials relating to hearings held by committees
of Congress or internal work product of a Federal agency)
portraying or otherwise indicating that it is the position of
the United States that the territory or airspace in the South
China Sea that is disputed among two or more parties or the
territory or airspace of areas administered by Japan or the
Republic of Korea, including in the East China Sea, is part
of the territory or airspace of the People's Republic of
China.
SEC. 1294. SENSE OF CONGRESS ON 2016 PERMANENT COURT OF
ARBITRATION'S TRIBUNAL RULING ON ARBITRATION
CASE BETWEEN PHILIPPINES AND PEOPLE'S REPUBLIC
OF CHINA.
(a) Finding.--Congress finds that on July 12, 2016, a
tribunal of the Permanent Court of Arbitration found in the
arbitration case between the Philippines and the People's
Republic of China under the United Nations Convention on the
Law of the Sea that the People's Republic of China's claims,
including those to offshore resources and ``historic
rights'', were unlawful, and that the tribunal's ruling is
final and legally binding on both parties.
(b) Sense of Congress.--It is the sense of Congress that--
(1) the United States and the international community
should reject the unlawful claims of the People's Republic of
China within the exclusive economic zone or on the
continental shelf of the Philippines, as well as the maritime
claims of the People's Republic of China beyond a 12-
nautical-mile territorial sea from the islands it claims in
the South China Sea;
(2) the provocative behavior of the People's Republic of
China, including coercing other countries with claims in the
South China Sea and preventing those countries from accessing
offshore resources, undermines peace and stability in the
South China Sea;
(3) the international community should--
(A) support and adhere to the ruling described in
subsection (a) in compliance with international law; and
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(B) take all necessary steps to support the rules-based
international order in the South China Sea; and
(4) all claimants in the South China Sea should--
(A) refrain from engaging in destabilizing activities,
including illegal occupation or efforts to unlawfully assert
control over disputed claims;
(B) ensure that disputes are managed without intimidation,
coercion, or force;
(C) clarify or adjust claims in accordance with
international law; and
(D) uphold the principle that territorial and maritime
claims, including over territorial waters or territorial
seas, must be derived from land features and otherwise
comport with international law.
SEC. 1295. REPORT ON COUNTRIES THAT RECOGNIZE CHINESE
SOVEREIGNTY OVER THE SOUTH CHINA SEA OR THE
EAST CHINA SEA.
(a) In General.--Not later than 60 days after the date of
the enactment of this Act, and annually thereafter until the
date that is 3 years after such date of enactment, the
Secretary of State shall submit to the Committee on Foreign
Relations of the Senate and the Committee on Foreign Affairs
of the House of Representatives a report identifying each
country that the Secretary determines has taken an official
and stated position to recognize, after such date of
enactment, the sovereignty of the People's Republic of China
over territory or airspace disputed by one or more countries
in the South China Sea or the territory or airspace of areas
of the East China Sea administered by Japan or the Republic
of Korea.
(b) Form.--The report required by subsection (a) shall be
submitted in unclassified form, but may include a classified
annex if the Secretary of State determines it is necessary
for the national security interests of the United States to
do so.
(c) Public Availability.--The Secretary of State shall
publish the unclassified part of the report required by
subsection (a) on a publicly available website of the
Department of State.
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