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109TH CONGRESS
1ST SESSION H. RES. 57
Urging the European Union to maintain
its arms embargo on the People’s Republic of China.
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
Mr. HYDE (for himself, Mr. LANTOS, Ms.
ROS-LEHTINEN, and Mr.MCCOTTER) submitted the following resolution;
which was referred to the Committee on _______________
Whereas the United States and the
European Union (EU) have maintained arms embargoes on the People’s
Republic of China since 1989, following the decision of the Chinese
Government on June 4, 1989, to order an unprovoked, brutal, and
indiscriminate assault on thousands of peaceful and unarmed
demonstrators and onlookers in and around Tiananmen Square by units
of the People’s Liberation Army, which resulted in an untold number
of deaths and several thousand injuries;
Whereas the People’s Republic of China
has yet to acknowledge and make amends for the 1989 massacre at
Tiananmen Square and an estimated 2,000 Chinese citizens remain in
prison as a result of their participation in those peaceful
demonstrations according to the Department of State’s Country
Reports on Human Rights Practices for 2004;
Whereas the National Security Strategy
of the United States approved by President George W. Bush on
September 17, 2002, concludes that the People’s Republic of China
remains strongly committed to national one-party rule by the
Communist Party and is not truly accountable to the needs and
aspirations of its citizens, while preventing the Chinese people to
think, assemble, and worship freely;
Whereas for several years the People’s
Republic of China has also been engaged in an extensive military
buildup in its air, naval, land, and outer space systems, including
the deployment of approximately 500 short range ballistic missiles
near the Taiwan Strait according to the Department of Defense’s
Report on the Military Power of the People’s Republic of China for
Fiscal Year 2004;
Whereas the military buildup by the
People’s Republic of China and the strategic doctrines and policies
that underpin such a buildup remain shrouded in secrecy and imply
challenges for strategic deterrence between the United States and
China, United States Armed Forces deployed in the Asia and Pacific
region, United States commitments and interests related to the
defense of numerous friends and allies in the region, particularly
Taiwan and Japan, and regional stability more broadly;
Whereas the European Union and the
People’s Republic of China released a joint statement on December 8,
2004, following their seventh summit meeting at The Hague in which
the two sides recognized each other as ‘‘major strategic partners in
the area of disarmament and non-proliferation’’ and the EU confirmed
its ‘‘political will to continue to work towards lifting the EU arms
embargo against China’’;
Whereas the European Union and the
People’s Republic of China also released a joint declaration on
non-proliferation and arms control on December 8, 2004, at The Hague
in which the EU stated its support for China’s entry into the
Missile Technology Control Regime (MTCR);
Whereas on December 20, 2004, the
Government of the United States determined that seven entities of
the People’s Republic of China, including several entities that play
major roles in China’s military-industrial complex, should be
subject to sanctions under section 3 of the Iran Nonproliferation
Act of 2000, which provides for penalties on entities for the
transfer to Iran of certain controlled equipment and technology,
reflecting a time span of more than a decade in which the United
States Government has made repeated determinations regarding Chinese
firms engaged in illicit transactions involving strategic
technology;
Whereas on December 17, 2004, the
Council of the European Union ‘‘reaffirmed the political will to
continue to work towards lifting the arms embargo’’ on the People’s
Republic of China and invited the next Presidency of the EU ‘‘to
finalize the well-advanced work in order to allow for a decision’’;
Whereas the largest member states of the
European Union—France, Germany, Italy, and the United Kingdom—have
steadily increased their arms sales to the People’s Republic of
China, such that from 2002 to 2003 the value of reported arms sales
to China doubled to approximately $540,000,000, according to the
most recent annual report, dated November 11, 2004, of the EU on its
Code of Conduct on Arms Exports;
Whereas in order to assist member states
of the European Union to close the gap in defense capabilities with
the United States and to enhance the interoperability of the armed
forces of such member states and United States Armed Forces, the
United States has provided a framework in its laws, particularly
under the Arms Export Control Act and chapters 138 and 139 of title
10, United States Code, in which the United States has pursued a
policy of expanded transatlantic armament and defense industry
cooperation involving increasingly sophisticated levels of sensitive
United States military technology, which becomes subject to
increased risks of diversion to the People’s Republic of China due
to armaments cooperation between the EU and China;
Whereas despite the chronically low
defense spending of member states of the European Union, EU member
states have decided to develop, with the participation of the
People’s Republic of China, a new global radio navigational
satellite system, known as Galileo, at a cost of more than
$3,000,000,000, which will have military applications, even though
such system purports to serve civil applications already served by
the United States Global Positioning Satellite (GPS) System; and
Whereas the United States has numerous national interests in the
Asia and Pacific region, including the security of Japan, Taiwan,
South Korea and other key areas, and United States Armed Forces
which are deployed throughout the region could be jeopardized by the
People’s Republic of China because it is increasingly well-armed and
may seek to settle long-standing territorial and political disputes
in the region by the threat or use of military force:
Now, therefore, be it Resolved,
That the House of Representatives—
(1)
reaffirms the United
States arms embargo on the People’s Republic of China and related
findings and statements of policy set forth in title IX of 4the
Foreign Relations Authorization Act, Fiscal 5 Years 1990 and 1991
(Public Law 101–246);
(2)
finds that policies by the
United States and other countries which promote the development of
democracy in the People’s Republic of China, and not the development
of Chinese military capabilities, will help assure a stable,
peaceful, and prosperous Asia and Pacific region;
(3)
deplores the recent
increase in arms sales by member states of the European Union (EU)
to the People’s Republic of China and the European Council’s
decision to finalize work toward lifting its arms embargo on China,
actions that place European security policy in direct conflict with
United States security interests and with the security interests of
United States friends and allies in the Asia and Pacific region;
(4)
declares that such a
development in European security policy is inherently inconsistent
with the concept of mutual security interests that lies at the heart
of United States laws for transatlantic defense cooperation at both
the governmental and industrial levels and would necessitate
limitations and constraints in these relationships that would be
unwelcome on both sides of the Atlantic;
(5)
requests the President in
his forthcoming meetings with European leaders to urge that they
reconsider this unwise course of action and, instead, work
expeditiously to close any gaps in the European Union’s arms embargo
on the People’s Republic of China, in the national export control
systems of EU member states, and in the EU’s Code of Conduct on Arms
Exports in order to prevent any future sale of arms or related
technology to China; and
(6)
requests the President to
inform Congress of the outcome of his discussions with European
leaders on this subject and to keep Congress fully and currently
informed of all developments in this regard.
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