II 

118TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION S. 591 

To impose sanctions with respect to the People’s Republic of China in relation 

to activities in the South China Sea and the East China Sea, and 

for other purposes. 

IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES 

MARCH 1, 2023 

Mr. RUBIO (for himself and Mr. CARDIN) introduced the following bill; which 

was read twice and referred to the Committee on Foreign Relations 

A BILL 

To impose sanctions with respect to the People’s Republic 

of China in relation to activities in the South China 

Sea and the East China Sea, and for other purposes. 

1 Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa2 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 

3 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 

4 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘South China Sea and 

5 East China Sea Sanctions Act of 2023’’. 


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1 SEC. 2. SANCTIONS WITH RESPECT TO CHINESE PERSONS 

2 RESPONSIBLE FOR CHINA’S ACTIVITIES IN 

3 THE SOUTH CHINA SEA AND THE EAST CHINA 

4 SEA. 

5 (a) INITIAL IMPOSITION OF SANCTIONS.—On and 

6 after the date that is 120 days after the date of the enact7 ment of this Act, the President may impose the sanctions 

8 described in subsection (b) with respect to any Chinese 

9 person, including any senior official of the Government of 

10 the People’s Republic of China, that the President deter11 mines— 

12 (1) is responsible for or significantly contributes 

13 to large-scale reclamation, construction, militariza14 tion, or ongoing supply of outposts in disputed areas 

15 of the South China Sea; 

16 (2) is responsible for or significantly contributes 

17 to, or has engaged in, directly or indirectly, actions, 

18 including the use of coercion, to inhibit another 

19 country from protecting its sovereign rights to ac20 cess offshore resources in the South China Sea, in21 cluding in such country’s exclusive economic zone, 

22 consistent with such country’s rights and obligations 

23 under international law; 

24 (3) is responsible for or complicit in, or has en25 gaged in, directly or indirectly, actions that signifi26 cantly threaten the peace, security, or stability of 


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1 disputed areas of the South China Sea or areas of 

2 the East China Sea administered by Japan or the 

3 Republic of Korea, including through the use of ves4 sels and aircraft by the People’s Republic of China 

5 to occupy or conduct extensive research or drilling 

6 activity in those areas; 

7 (4) has materially assisted, sponsored, or pro8 vided financial, material, or technological support 

9 for, or goods or services to, or in support of, any 

10 person subject to sanctions pursuant to paragraph 

11 (1), (2), or (3); or 

12 (5) is owned or controlled by, or has acted for 

13 or on behalf of, directly or indirectly, any person 

14 subject to sanctions pursuant to paragraph (1), (2), 

15 or (3). 

16 (b) SANCTIONS DESCRIBED.—The sanctions that 

17 may be imposed with respect to a person described in sub18 section (a) are the following: 

19 (1) BLOCKING OF PROPERTY.—The President 

20 may, in accordance with the International Emer21 gency Economic Powers Act (50 U.S.C. 1701 et 

22 seq.), block and prohibit all transactions in all prop23 erty and interests in property of the person if such 

24 property and interests in property are in the United 

25 States, come within the United States, or are or 


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1 come within the possession or control of a United 

2 States person. 

3 (2) INELIGIBILITY FOR VISAS, ADMISSION, OR

4 PAROLE.— 

5 (A) VISAS, ADMISSION, OR PAROLE.—In 

6 the case of an alien, the alien may be— 

7 (i) inadmissible to the United States; 

8 (ii) ineligible to receive a visa or other 

9 documentation to enter the United States; 

10 and 

11 (iii) otherwise ineligible to be admitted 

12 or paroled into the United States or to re13 ceive any other benefit under the Immigra14 tion and Nationality Act (8 U.S.C. 1101 et 

15 seq.). 

16 (B) CURRENT VISAS REVOKED.— 

17 (i) IN GENERAL.—An alien described 

18 in subparagraph (A) may be subject to rev19 ocation of any visa or other entry docu20 mentation regardless of when the visa or 

21 other entry documentation is or was 

22 issued. 

23 (ii) IMMEDIATE EFFECT.—A revoca24 tion under clause (i) may— 

25 (I) take effect immediately; and 


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1 (II) cancel any other valid visa or 

2 entry documentation that is in the 

3 alien’s possession. 

4 (3) EXCLUSION OF CORPORATE OFFICERS.— 

5 The President may direct the Secretary of State to 

6 deny a visa to, and the Secretary of Homeland Secu7 rity to exclude from the United States, any alien 

8 that the President determines is a corporate officer 

9 or principal of, or a shareholder with a controlling 

10 interest in, the person. 

11 (4) EXPORT SANCTION.—The President may 

12 order the United States Government not to issue 

13 any specific license and not to grant any other spe14 cific permission or authority to export any goods or 

15 technology to the person under— 

16 (A) the Export Control Reform Act of 

17 2018 (50 U.S.C. 4801 et seq.); or 

18 (B) any other statute that requires the 

19 prior review and approval of the United States 

20 Government as a condition for the export or re21 export of goods or services. 

22 (5) INCLUSION ON ENTITY LIST.—The Presi23 dent may include the entity on the entity list main24 tained by the Bureau of Industry and Security of 

25 the Department of Commerce and set forth in SupVerDate Sep 11 2014 04:36 Mar 10, 2023 Jkt 039200 PO 00000 Frm 00005 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S591.IS S591

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1 plement No. 4 to part 744 of the Export Adminis2 tration Regulations, for activities contrary to the na3 tional security or foreign policy interests of the 

4 United States. 

5 (6) BAN ON INVESTMENT IN EQUITY OR DEBT

6 OF SANCTIONED PERSON.—The President may, pur7 suant to such regulations or guidelines as the Presi8 dent may prescribe, prohibit any United States per9 son from investing in or purchasing equity or debt 

10 instruments of the person. 

11 (7) BANKING TRANSACTIONS.—The President 

12 may, pursuant to such regulations as the President 

13 may prescribe, prohibit any transfers of credit or 

14 payments between financial institutions or by, 

15 through, or to any financial institution, to the extent 

16 that such transfers or payments are subject to the 

17 jurisdiction of the United States and involve any in18 terest of the person. 

19 (8) CORRESPONDENT AND PAYABLE-THROUGH

20 ACCOUNTS.—In the case of a foreign financial insti21 tution, the President may prohibit the opening, and 

22 prohibit or impose strict conditions on the maintain23 ing, in the United States of a correspondent account 

24 or a payable-through account by the foreign finan25 cial institution. 


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1 (c) EXCEPTIONS.— 

2 (1) INAPPLICABILITY OF NATIONAL EMER3 GENCY REQUIREMENT.—The requirements of section 

4 202 of the International Emergency Economic Pow5 ers Act (50 U.S.C. 1701) shall not apply for pur6 poses of subsection (b)(1). 

7 (2) EXCEPTION FOR INTELLIGENCE, LAW EN8 FORCEMENT, AND NATIONAL SECURITY ACTIVI9 TIES.—Sanctions under this section shall not apply 

10 to any authorized intelligence, law enforcement, or 

11 national security activities of the United States. 

12 (3) COMPLIANCE WITH UNITED NATIONS HEAD13 QUARTERS AGREEMENT.—Paragraphs (2) and (3) of 

14 subsection (b) shall not apply if admission of an 

15 alien to the United States is necessary to permit the 

16 United States to comply with the Agreement regard17 ing the Headquarters of the United Nations, signed 

18 at Lake Success, June 26, 1947, and entered into 

19 force, November 21, 1947, between the United Na20 tions and the United States. 

21 (4) EXCEPTION RELATING TO IMPORTATION OF

22 GOODS.— 

23 (A) IN GENERAL.—The authority or a re24 quirement to impose sanctions under this sec25 tion shall not include the authority or a requireVerDate Sep 11 2014 04:36 Mar 10, 2023 Jkt 039200 PO 00000 Frm 00007 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S591.IS S591

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1 ment to impose sanctions on the importation of 

2 goods. 

3 (B) GOOD DEFINED.—In this paragraph, 

4 the term ‘‘good’’ means any article, natural or 

5 manmade substance, material, supply, or manu6 factured product, including inspection and test 

7 equipment, and excluding technical data. 

8 (d) IMPLEMENTATION; PENALTIES.— 

9 (1) IMPLEMENTATION.—The President may ex10 ercise all authorities provided under sections 203 

11 and 205 of the International Emergency Economic 

12 Powers Act (50 U.S.C. 1702 and 1704) to carry out 

13 this section. 

14 (2) PENALTIES.—The penalties provided for in 

15 subsections (b) and (c) of section 206 of the Inter16 national Emergency Economic Powers Act (50 

17 U.S.C. 1705) shall apply to a person that violates, 

18 attempts to violate, conspires to violate, or causes a 

19 violation of regulations prescribed under subsection 

20 (b)(1) to the same extent that such penalties apply 

21 to a person that commits an unlawful act described 

22 in subsection (a) of such section 206. 

23 (e) DEFINITIONS.—In this section: 

24 (1) ACCOUNT; CORRESPONDENT ACCOUNT; PAY25 ABLE-THROUGH ACCOUNT.—The terms ‘‘account’’, 


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1 ‘‘correspondent account’’, and ‘‘payable-through ac2 count’’ have the meanings given those terms in sec3 tion 5318A of title 31, United States Code. 

4 (2) ALIEN.—The term ‘‘alien’’ has the meaning 

5 given that term in section 101(a) of the Immigration 

6 and Nationality Act (8 U.S.C. 1101(a)). 

7 (3) CHINESE PERSON.—The term ‘‘Chinese 

8 person’’ means— 

9 (A) an individual who is a citizen or na10 tional of the People’s Republic of China; or 

11 (B) an entity organized under the laws of 

12 the People’s Republic of China or otherwise 

13 subject to the jurisdiction of the Government of 

14 the People’s Republic of China. 

15 (4) FINANCIAL INSTITUTION.—The term ‘‘fi16 nancial institution’’ means a financial institution 

17 specified in subparagraph (A), (B), (C), (D), (E), 

18 (F), (G), (H), (I), (J), (K), (M), (N), (P), (R), (T), 

19 (Y), or (Z) of section 5312(a)(2) of title 31, United 

20 States Code. 

21 (5) FOREIGN FINANCIAL INSTITUTION.—The 

22 term ‘‘foreign financial institution’’ has the meaning 

23 given that term in section 1010.605 of title 31, Code 

24 of Federal Regulations (or any corresponding similar 

25 regulation or ruling). 


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1 (6) PERSON.—The term ‘‘person’’ means any 

2 individual or entity. 

3 (7) UNITED STATES PERSON.—The term 

4 ‘‘United States person’’ means— 

5 (A) a United States citizen or an alien law6 fully admitted for permanent residence to the 

7 United States; 

8 (B) an entity organized under the laws of 

9 the United States or of any jurisdiction within 

10 the United States, including a foreign branch of 

11 such an entity; or 

12 (C) any person in the United States. 

13 SEC. 3. SENSE OF CONGRESS REGARDING PORTRAYALS OF 

14 THE SOUTH CHINA SEA OR THE EAST CHINA 

15 SEA AS PART OF CHINA. 

16 It is the sense of Congress that the Government Pub17 lishing Office should not publish any map, document, 

18 record, electronic resource, or other paper of the United 

19 States (other than materials relating to hearings held by 

20 committees of Congress or internal work product of a Fed21 eral agency) portraying or otherwise indicating that it is 

22 the position of the United States that the territory or air23 space in the South China Sea that is disputed among two 

24 or more parties or the territory or airspace of areas ad25 ministered by Japan or the Republic of Korea, including 


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1 in the East China Sea, is part of the territory or airspace 

2 of the People’s Republic of China. 

3 SEC. 4. SENSE OF CONGRESS ON 2016 PERMANENT COURT 

4 OF ARBITRATION’S TRIBUNAL RULING ON AR5 BITRATION CASE BETWEEN PHILIPPINES 

6 AND PEOPLE’S REPUBLIC OF CHINA. 

7 (a) FINDING.—Congress finds that on July 12, 2016, 

8 a tribunal of the Permanent Court of Arbitration found 

9 in the arbitration case between the Philippines and the 

10 People’s Republic of China under the United Nations Con11 vention on the Law of the Sea that the People’s Republic 

12 of China’s claims, including those to offshore resources 

13 and ‘‘historic rights’’, were unlawful, and that the tribu14 nal’s ruling is final and legally binding on both parties. 

15 (b) SENSE OF CONGRESS.—It is the sense of Con16 gress that— 

17 (1) the United States and the international 

18 community should reject the unlawful claims of the 

19 People’s Republic of China within the exclusive eco20 nomic zone or on the continental shelf of the Phil21 ippines, as well as the maritime claims of the Peo22 ple’s Republic of China beyond a 12-nautical-mile 

23 territorial sea from the islands it claims in the South 

24 China Sea; 


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1 (2) the provocative behavior of the People’s Re2 public of China, including coercing other countries 

3 with claims in the South China Sea and preventing 

4 those countries from accessing offshore resources, 

5 undermines peace and stability in the South China 

6 Sea; 

7 (3) the international community should— 

8 (A) support and adhere to the ruling de9 scribed in subsection (a) in compliance with 

10 international law; and 

11 (B) take all necessary steps to support the 

12 rules-based international order in the South 

13 China Sea; and 

14 (4) all claimants in the South China Sea 

15 should— 

16 (A) refrain from engaging in destabilizing 

17 activities, including illegal occupation or efforts 

18 to unlawfully assert control over disputed 

19 claims; 

20 (B) ensure that disputes are managed 

21 without intimidation, coercion, or force; 

22 (C) clarify or adjust claims in accordance 

23 with international law; and 

24 (D) uphold the principle that territorial 

25 and maritime claims, including over territorial 


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1 waters or territorial seas, must be derived from 

2 land features and otherwise comport with inter3 national law. 

4 SEC. 5. REPORT ON COUNTRIES THAT RECOGNIZE CHINESE 

5 SOVEREIGNTY OVER THE SOUTH CHINA SEA 

6 OR THE EAST CHINA SEA. 

7 (a) IN GENERAL.—Not later than 60 days after the 

8 date of the enactment of this Act, and annually thereafter 

9 until the date that is 3 years after such date of enactment, 

10 the Secretary of State shall submit to the Committee on 

11 Foreign Relations of the Senate and the Committee on 

12 Foreign Affairs of the House of Representatives a report 

13 identifying each country that the Secretary determines has 

14 taken an official and stated position to recognize, after 

15 such date of enactment, the sovereignty of the People’s 

16 Republic of China over territory or airspace disputed by 

17 one or more countries in the South China Sea or the terri18 tory or airspace of areas of the East China Sea adminis19 tered by Japan or the Republic of Korea. 

20 (b) FORM.—The report required by subsection (a) 

21 shall be submitted in unclassified form, but may include 

22 a classified annex if the Secretary of State determines it 

23 is necessary for the national security interests of the 

24 United States to do so. 


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1 (c) PUBLIC AVAILABILITY.—The Secretary of State 

2 shall publish the unclassified part of the report required 

3 by subsection (a) on a publicly available website of the 

4 Department of State. 

Æ 


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