III 

114TH CONGRESS 

2D SESSION S. RES. 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. 

IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES 

FEBRUARY 10, 2016 

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 

RESOLUTION 

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. 

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 


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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; 


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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 with 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; 


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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 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; 


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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 a disproportionate impact on developing countries, with the 

experiences of Cyclone Nargis in Myanmar and Typhoon 


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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 


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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 to 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, multisectoral subregional 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; 


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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 combating 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 anticorruption efforts through, among other initiatives, 

the implementation of the United Nations Convention 

Against Corruption: Now, therefore, be it 

1 Resolved, That the Senate— 

2 (1) welcomes the leaders of the Association of 

3 South East Asian Nations (ASEAN) to the United 

4 States for the special February 2016 U.S.-ASEAN 

5 summit meeting at Rancho Mirage, California, and 

6 affirms the summit as the first regular U.S.-ASEAN 

7 summit; 


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1 (2) supports and welcomes the elevation of the 

2 United States-ASEAN relationship to a strategic 

3 partnership and recommits the United States to 

4 ASEAN centrality and to helping to build a strong, 

5 stable, politically cohesive, economically integrated, 

6 and socially responsible ASEAN community with 

7 common rules, norms, procedures, and standards 

8 consistent with international law and the principles 

9 of a ‘‘rule-based’’ Asia-Pacific community; 

10 (3) supports efforts towards increasing two-way 

11 trade and investment, promoting trade and invest12 ment liberalization and facilitation, encouraging 

13 strong, sustainable, and inclusive economic growth 

14 and job creation, and deepening connectivity; 

15 (4) urges ASEAN to continue its efforts to fos16 ter greater integration and unity, including with 

17 non-ASEAN economic, political, and security part18 ners, including Japan, the Republic of Korea, Aus19 tralia, the European Union, and India, both inside 

20 of and outside of Asia; 

21 (5) supports efforts by ASEAN nations to ad22 dress maritime and territorial disputes in a con23 structive manner and to pursue claims through 

24 peaceful, diplomatic, and legitimate regional and 


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1 international arbitration mechanisms, consistent 

2 with international law; 

3 (6) urges all parties to maritime and territorial 

4 disputes in the Asia-Pacific region to— 

5 (A) respect the status quo; 

6 (B) exercise self-restraint in the conduct of 

7 activities that would undermine stability or 

8 complicate or escalate disputes through the use 

9 of coercion, intimidation, or military force; 

10 (C) cease land reclamation activities; and 

11 (D) refrain from inhabiting or garrisoning 

12 or otherwise militarizing uninhabited islands, 

13 reefs, shoals, and other features; 

14 (7) opposes actions by any country to prevent 

15 any other country from exercising its sovereign 

16 rights to the resources of the exclusive economic 

17 zone (EEZ) and continental shelf by making claims 

18 to those areas in the South China Sea that have no 

19 support in international law; 

20 (8) opposes unilateral declarations of adminis21 trative and military districts in contested areas in 

22 the South China Sea; 

23 (9) opposes the imposition of new fishing regu24 lations covering disputed areas in the South China 

25 Sea, which have raised tensions in the region; 


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1 (10) urges parties to refrain from unilateral ac2 tions that cause permanent physical change to the 

3 marine environment in areas pending final delimita4 tion; 

5 (11) supports efforts by the Association of 

6 Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) and the People’s 

7 Republic of China to develop an effective Code of 

8 Conduct (COC) and urges ASEAN to implement 

9 and work toward the expeditious conclusion of an ef10 fective Code of Conduct with regards to the South 

11 China Sea; 

12 (12) urges ASEAN to develop a common ap13 proach to reaffirm the decision of the Permanent 

14 Court of Arbitration in The Hague’s ruling with re15 spect to the case between the Republic of the Phil16 ippines and the People’s Republic of China; 

17 (13) supports efforts by United States partners 

18 and allies in ASEAN— 

19 (A) to enhance maritime capability; 

20 (B) to retain unhindered access to and use 

21 of international waterways in the Asia-Pacific 

22 region that are critical to ensuring the security 

23 and free flow of commerce; 

24 (C) to improve maritime domain aware25 ness; 


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1 (D) to counter piracy; 

2 (E) to disrupt illicit maritime trafficking 

3 activities and other forms of maritime traf4 ficking activity; and 

5 (F) to enhance the maritime capabilities of 

6 a country or regional organizations to respond 

7 to emerging threats to maritime security in the 

8 Asia-Pacific region; 

9 (14) reaffirms the enhancement of United 

10 States-ASEAN economic engagement, including the 

11 elimination of barriers to cross-border commerce, 

12 and supports the ASEAN Economic Community’s 

13 goals, including strong, inclusive, and sustainable 

14 growth and cooperation between the United States 

15 and ASEAN that focuses on innovation and capacity 

16 building efforts in technology, education, disaster 

17 management, food security, human rights, and trade 

18 facilitation, including for ASEAN’s poorest coun19 tries; 

20 (15) supports the Lower Mekong Initiative, 

21 which has made significant progress in promoting 

22 sustainable economic development in mainland 

23 Southeast Asia and fostering integrated subregional 

24 cooperation and capacity building; 


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1 (16) supports capacity building for the pro2 motion and protection of human rights and related 

3 priority, programs, and activities; 

4 (17) supports the Young Southeast Asian Lead5 ers Initiative program as an example of people-to6 people partnership building that provides skills and 

7 networks to a new generation of people who will cre8 ate and fill the jobs of the future; 

9 (18) reaffirms the commitment of the United 

10 States to continue joint efforts with ASEAN to halt 

11 human smuggling and trafficking of persons and 

12 urges ASEAN to make increased efforts to create 

13 and strengthen regional mechanisms to provide as14 sistance and support to refugees and migrants; 

15 (19) urges ASEAN nations to engage directly 

16 with leaders of civil society, human rights, and envi17 ronmental groups before, during, and after the Feb18 ruary 2016 summit; and 

19 (20) encourages the President to communicate 

20 to ASEAN leaders the importance of releasing polit21 ical prisoners and ending politically motivated pros22 ecutions. 

Æ 


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