May 24, 1995 CONGRESSIONAL RECORD— SENATE S7387 

May 11 for Puerto Princesa, nearly 600 km 

southwest of the capital. 

It returned Tuesday to Manila after observing special municipal elections held Sunday in Pag-Asa, the largest of seven Spratly 

islands held by the Philippines. 

After two nights aboard a private cruise 

ship, the journalists reached Jackson Atoll, 

about 50 km northwest of Mischief Reef, 

where they transferred to the World War II 

vintage Benguet. 

The first two sorties with 16 journalists on 

board Vietnam war-era Uhih choppers with 

‘‘press’’ markings took off at about 11:15 AM 

when the landing ship was about 30 km off 

Mischief Reef. 

Also on board was Tanega, the first Philippine officer to fly over the area since the 

Chinese built at least 14 structures on four 

platforms around the reef. 

Manila has strongly condemned the Chinese occupation of the reef, which Filipino 

officials stress is well within the country’s 

200-km exclusive economic zone. 

Beijing maintains that the reef is part of 

its territory and claims the structures are 

‘‘shelters for fishermen.’’

Tanega pointed out the two Chinese ships 

raced back to the reef’s lagoon after apparently seeing the choppers, journalists said. 

But in the second wave of sorties, journalists saw the ships heading toward the Philippine naval ships which were about 24 km 

off the reef. 

From the ship’s foredeck, journalists saw 

the Chinese vessels, a small fast boat and a 

larger ship, assume blocking positions midway between the reef and the Philippine vessels. 

At that point, about 16 km from the reef, 

the Benguet stopped to launch the fourth 

and fifth sorties. 

‘‘We stopped because . . . We knew this is 

the place where we could accomplish the 

mission in the best, expeditious and safest 

way,’’ said Tanega at a press conference the 

next day. 

As the Benguet was ‘‘lying to,’’ a naval 

term to mean that a ship has stopped without dropping anchor, its patrol escort, 

Miguel Malvar, maneuvered from starboard 

to a position to port. 

Tanega said this was done to prevent the 

bigger Chinese ship from coming closer to 

the Benguet. 

The smaller Chinese vessel moved to a position as close as 50 meters from the Benguet 

from where some its crew took photos and 

filmed the operations of the naval ship. 

‘‘The reaction was definitely expected because they did not know what we were 

doing,’’ said Tanega. 

‘‘They did not know where the helicopters 

were taking off . . . They could not surmise 

how a land-based helicopter could fly 208 km 

from the nearest land field,’’ he pointed out. 

Tanega said that while the Chinese vessel, 

whose Chinese markings identified it as belonging to Beijing’s Bureau of Fisheries, was 

‘‘too close for comfort,’’ he was not bothered 

by its presence. 

As the choppers were secured on the deck 

of the Benguet, a Philippine Air Force reconnaissance plane radioed Tanega about the 

approach of ‘‘two savage fishes.’’

The plane was referring to Chinese frigates, which journalists learned were 24 km 

away and racing toward them. 

Shortly after, at about 2:45 PM, Tanega ordered the Benguet and its escort ship to maneuver out of the area and proceed to PagAsa, some 18 hours away. 

The two Chinese vessels made no attempt 

to stop the ships and stayed behind while the 

frigates, whose outlines could be seen on the 

horizon, appeared to stop. 

‘‘What is important here is we did what we 

had to do because this is our territory. We 

were eyeball to eyeball. We did not blink,’’

said Tanega. 

PRC STANCE ON MEDIA’S SPRATLYS TOUR

ANALYZED

(Editorial: ‘‘Manila Scores Versus Beijing’’) 

Whatever substance to Beijing’s claim that 

the Chinese structures on Mischief Reef are 

mere stations of Chinese fishermen has been 

shown spurious by the celebrated stand-off 

that took place last Saturday at the 

Kalayaan Islands. There, two Chinese warships suddenly appeared 15 nautical miles 

away in apparent support of Chinese vessels 

blocking a Philippine Navy ship carrying 

local and foreign journalists. 

The inspection trip by our Navy would 

have been enough to impress upon independent journalists that the structures on 

Mischief Reef could not have been mere fishing stations by ubiquitous Chinese fishermen: the structures are made of metal with 

parabolic discs all around, giving credence to 

Manila’s claim they could eventually become 

naval support facilities. 

But the Chinese, not exactly known for 

subtlety, betrayed their own intentions; they 

themselves confirmed Manila’s claim. Within 

minutes after Philippine Navy helicopters 

started their sorties of Mischief Reef last 

Saturday, two frigates from the Chinese 

navy raced to the sight in apparent aid of 

the Chinese ‘‘fishermen’’. 

The trip has therefore accomplished 

Manila’s objective of proving to the international community that the Chinese are 

undermining the status quo in the Kalayaan 

and unnecessarily causing tension there. By 

arranging for the coverage by foreign journalists, Manila has not only scored a public 

relations point against Beijing, it has also 

buttressed its territorial claim to the 

Kalayaan. As Acting Foreign Secretary Domingo Siazon put it when he turned down 

Beijing’s request that the tour be canceled, 

the foreign journalists who were coming 

along for the inspection should be an indication of how they perceived the ‘‘sovereignty 

issue’’. 

By drawing international opinion to the 

issue, Manila has hit back at Beijing in the 

most capable way it could, making full use 

of the resources of democracy and unmasking in the process China’s unneighborly designs in the region. It has billed the trip as 

a concession to freedom of the press and 

made it just an item in the larger itinerary 

of visiting the Filipino settlements in the 

Kalayaan in order to conduct the elections 

there. In one fell swoop, the Philippines has 

been able to demonstrate its democratic 

character contrast to the authoritarian regime in China as well as the fact that the 

Kalayaan is hers by virtue of the Filipino 

living there. 

The rub is that the confrontation shows 

China’s aggressiveness in pursuing its weak 

claim on Kalayaan. And with the Philippine 

military by all accounts standing eyeball to 

eyeball with the Chinese display of mi last 

Saturday—the Italian-made jets of the Philippine Air Force screamed overhead during 

the stand-off to warn theinese—, what has 

been drummed to the international community is the seriousness of the Kalayaan dispute. In such a t, hostilities in the islands 

could break out any time. 

But the tension could be managed by forceful diplomacy and imaginative show of force 

against Beijing. Manila has been able to 

compel Washington to issue a statement 

which voiced United States’ interest that 

‘‘freedom of maritime investigation’’ shall 

be preserved in the South China Sea, a clear 

potshot at Beijing over its mischievous incursions. Manila now has to navigate 

through the contentious domestic dispute 

over some sort of a military logistical arrangement of the US in the aftermath of the 

pullout of the Americans from Subic and 

Clark. Asian capitals and some sectors in 

thilippine are loath to admit it but the key 

to controlling China and maintaining Asian 

security in the future is to America militarily engaged in the region. 

[From the Manila Philippine Daily, May 18, 

1995] 

‘‘CREATIVE’’ POLICY ON SPRATLYS LEADS TO

SUCCESS

The decision to take on China on the 

Spratlys is the boldest foreign policy initiative ever taken by the Ramos administration. It is even more remarkable if we consider that he took a stand despite the military and economic weakness of the Philippines. That the Philippines forcefully challenged Chinese creeping expansion in the 

Spratlys was a shock to China, as well as a 

surprise to our ASEAN allies. They never expected the ‘‘sick man of Asia’’ to take on the 

Chinese giant on the question of territorial 

integrity. The diplomatic gamble paid off. It 

brought to the surface historic fears in Asia 

about the Chinese threat, which is more 

magnified by the modernization of its armed 

forces and its rapidly expanding economy. 

President Ramos’ gamble touched a raw 

nerve among Asians, and now many of our 

neighbors have dropped their reluctance to 

warn against the Chinese threat. The fear 

and anxieties over the Chinese move on the 

Spratlys are based on stronger grounds than 

sovereignty or who should exploit maritime 

resources supposed to lie underneath the 

atolls. The larger issue, as pointed out by 

Goh Chok Tong to Chinese Foreign Minister 

Li Peng, involves the freedom of navigation 

in the South China Sea, over which China 

claims sovereignty based on antiquarian 

maps. 

It was the Philippines’ actions that proved 

to be the catalyst of the new-found solidarity among ASEAN and the Asia-Pacific 

nations, notably Japan and the United 

States, to forge a common stand in persuading China that it is in her interest to 

bring the dispute within the framework of 

multilateral negotiations. The Philippine action proves that tough diplomatic decisions 

can give us a position of strength if we get 

international support behind us. This is what 

we call creative diplomacy. 

Mr. THOMAS. Let me say in closing, 

Mr. President, that I am pleased the 

State Department has finally issued a 

definitive U.S. position on the 

Spratlys, with which I heartily agree. I 

believe that the Foreign Relations 

Committee will take up Senate Resolution 97—a sense-of-the-Senate resolution on the islands which I sponsored—

in the near future and move it to the 

floor soon thereafter. 

f 

MESSAGES FROM THE PRESIDENT 

Messages from the President of the 

United States were communicated to 

the Senate by Mr. Thomas, one of his 

secretaries. 

f 

EXECUTIVE MESSAGES REFERRED 

As in executive session the Presiding 

Officer laid before the Senate messages 

from the President of the United 

States submitting sundry nominations 

which were referred to the appropriate 

committees. 

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S7388 CONGRESSIONAL RECORD— SENATE May 24, 1995 

(The nominations received today are 

printed at the end of the Senate proceedings.) 

f 

REPORT ON AERONAUTICS AND 

SPACE FOR FISCAL YEAR 1994—

MESSAGE FROM THE PRESIDENT—PM 52 

The PRESIDING OFFICER laid before the Senate the following message 

from the President of the United 

States, together with an accompanying 

report; which was referred to the Committee on Commerce, Science, and 

Transportation. 

To the Congress of the United States: 

I am pleased to transmit this report 

on the Nation’s achievements in aeronautics and space during Fiscal Year 

1994, as required under section 206 of 

the National Aeronautics and Space 

Act of 1958, as amended (42 U.S.C. 2476). 

Aeronautics and space activities involve 15 contributing departments and 

agencies of the Federal Government, as 

this report reflects, and the results of 

their ongoing research and development affect the Nation as a whole in a 

variety of ways. 

Fiscal Year 1994 featured many important developments and changes in 

U.S. aeronautics and space efforts. It 

included 7 Space Shuttle missions successfully completed, 15 Government 

launches of Expendable Launch Vehicles (ELVs), and 4 commercial launches 

from Government facilities. Among notable developments in the ELV area 

were the launch of the Deep Space 

probe, Clementine, initial use of the 

Titan IV Centaur upper stage, and the 

first launch of the Taurus launch vehicle. Highlights of the Shuttle missions 

included the highly successful servicing mission for the Hubble Space Telescope (HST), which replaced several 

faulty parts and installed a sophisticated package of corrective optics to 

compensate for the spherical aberration in HST’s primary mirror. Also, the 

flight of the Space Radar Laboratory 

began to provide information on environmental change, and a mission with 

a Russian astronaut, Sergei Krikalev, 

as a member of the crew signalled the 

beginning of a three-phased cooperative program in space between Russia 

and the United States. 

In a year of tremendous accomplishments for the international Space Station, National Aeronautics and Space 

Administration (NASA) developed an 

initial set of specifications that included Russian elements as part of the 

design. Russia’s agreeing to join the 12 

original participating nations as a 

partner resulted in the expansion of 

the existing Shuttle/Mir program into 

Phase I of the international Space Station program, which officially began 

with Sergei Krikalev’s flight on the 

Shuttle. All of the partners held a successful systems design review in Texas 

in March, and in June, Russia and the 

United States signed an interim agreement on the Space Station and a $400 

million contract for Russian space 

hardware, services, and data. In August, the program completed a vehicle 

architecture review and in September, 

the Space Station Control Board ratified the recommendations it included. 

The redesigned Space Station costs $5 

billion less than Space Station Freedom and still offers increased research 

capability and user flexibility. 

In aeronautics, activities included 

development of technologies to improve performance, increase safety, reduce engine noise and other environmental degradation, improve air traffic 

management, lower costs, and help 

American industry to be more competitive in the world market. For example, 

high-speed research continued during 

Fiscal Year 1994 to focus on resolving 

critical environmental issues and laying the technological foundation for an 

economical, next generation, High 

Speed Civil Transport (HSCT). In this 

connection, the United States reached 

agreement with Russia to use the Tu144 supersonic transport as a testbed 

for HSCT development. In addition, efforts in advanced subsonics focused on 

reducing aircraft and engine noise levels, on development of wind shear sensing devices, and on creating technologies that will improve general 

aviation aircraft. 

In space science, astronomers using 

HST’s revitalized optics discovered 

disks of protoplanetary dust orbiting 

stars in the Orion Nebula, suggesting 

that the formation of planets in the 

Milky Way and elsewhere may be relatively common. Also, HST’s revelation of helium in distant constellations 

provides valuable information about 

the conditions in the universe during 

its initial evolution. The Spacelab Life 

Sciences-2, U.S. Microgravity Payload2, and International Microgravity Laboratory-2 greatly increased our understanding of the role of gravity on biological, physical, and chemical processes. In biology, we learned that gravity affects the function of the neural 

connections between brain cells; this 

can have profound implications for rebuilding damaged brain cells due to 

strokes and disease. In Earth science, 

the Space Radar Laboratories-1 and -2, 

plus the Lidar In-Space Technology Experiment payload, used powerful radar 

and laser technology to penetrate 

cloud cover and map critical factors on 

a global scale. Also, the highly successful launch of the Clementine Deep 

Space Probe tested 23 advanced technologies for high-tech, lightweight 

missile defense. The relatively inexpensive, rapidly-built spececraft constituted a major revolution in spacecraft management and design; it also 

contributed significantly to lunar studies by photographing 1.8 million images 

of the surface of the Moon. 

Additionally, on May 5, 1994, the 

White House announced that the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), the Department 

of Defense, and NASA were establishing a joint program to effect the 

convergence of civil and military 

polar-orbiting operational environmental satellite systems into a single 

operational program. Other White 

House announcements during the year 

included a policy for licensing U.S. 

firms by the Secretary of Commerce to 

operate private remote sensing systems 

and sell their images to domestic and 

foreign entities and a national space 

transportation policy that will sustain 

and revitalize U.S. space transportation capabilities by providing a coherent strategy for supporting and 

strengthening U.S. space launch capabilities to meet the growth needs of the 

civilian and national security sectors. 

Thus, Fiscal Year 1994 was a highly 

successful one for the U.S. aeronautics 

and space programs. Efforts in both 

areas have contributed significantly to 

furthering the Nation’s scientific and 

technical knowledge, international cooperation, a healthier environment, 

and a more competitive economy. 

WILLIAM J. CLINTON.

THE WHITE H

f 

OUSE, May 24, 1995. 

MESSAGES FROM THE HOUSE 

ENROLLED BILL SIGNED 

At 11 a.m., a message from the House 

of Representatives, delivered by Mr. 

Hays, one of its reading clerks, announced that the Speaker has signed 

the following enrolled bill: 

H.R. 1421. An act to provide that references 

in the statutes of the United States to any 

committee or officer of the House of Representatives the name or jurisdiction of 

which was changed as part of the reorganization of the House of Representatives at the 

beginning of the One Hundred Fourth Congress shall be treated as referring to the currently applicable committee or officer of the 

House of Representatives. 

The enrolled bill was subsequently 

signed by the President pro tempore 

[Mr. THURMOND

f 

]. 

INTRODUCTION OF BILLS AND 

JOINT RESOLUTIONS 

The following bills and joint resolutions were introduced, read the first 

and second time by unanimous consent, and referred as indicated: 

By Mr. SHELBY (for himself, Mr. HEFLIN, Mr. COVERDELL, and Mr. NUNN): 

S. 848. A bill to grant the consent of Congress to an amendment of the Historic Chattahoochee Compact between the States of 

Alabama and Georgia; to the Committee on 

the Judiciary. 

By Mr. D’AMATO: 

S. 849. A bill to amend the Age Discrimination in Employment Act of 1967 to protect 

elected judges against discrimination based 

on age; to the Committee on Labor and 

Human Resources. 

By Mrs. KASSEBAUM (for herself, Mr. 

COATS, Mr. JEFFORDS, Mr. KENNEDY, 

Mr. DODD, and Mr. INOUYE): 

S. 850. A bill to amend the Child Care and 

Development Block Grant Act of 1990 to consolidate Federal child care programs, and for 

other purposes; to the Committee on Labor 

and Human Resources. 

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