III 

114TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION S. RES. 183 

Calling for suspension of construction of artificial land formations on islands, 

reefs, shoals, and other features of the Spratly Islands and for a peaceful 

and multilateral resolution to the South China Sea territorial dispute. 

IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES 

MAY 21, 2015 

Mr. SCHATZ (for himself, Mr. MCCAIN, and Mr. SULLIVAN) submitted the following resolution; which was referred to the Committee on Foreign Relations 

RESOLUTION 

Calling for suspension of construction of artificial land formations on islands, reefs, shoals, and other features of 

the Spratly Islands and for a peaceful and multilateral 

resolution to the South China Sea territorial dispute. 

Whereas the United States Government strongly supports the 

peaceful resolution of territorial, sovereignty, and jurisdictional disputes in the South China Sea; 

Whereas the South China Sea includes critical sea lines of 

communication and commerce between the Pacific and 

Indian oceans; 

Whereas the United States Government has a national interest in freedom of navigation and overflight in the South 


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•SRES 183 IS 

China Sea, as provided for by customary principles of 

international law; 

Whereas the United States Government is also committed to 

upholding internationally lawful uses of the high seas and 

the Exclusive Economic Zones as well as to the related 

rights and freedoms in other maritime zones, including 

the rights of innocent passage, transit passage, and 

archipelagic sea lanes passage consistent with customary 

international law; 

Whereas the United States has an interest in encouraging 

and supporting the nations of the region to work collaboratively and diplomatically to resolve disputes without coercion, intimidation, threats, or the use of force; 

Whereas the United States further supports the efforts of 

states to resolve their disputes in accordance with international law, including through internationally recognized 

legal dispute settlement mechanisms, and urges the full 

implementation of any decisions rendered by the relevant 

courts and tribunals which are binding on them; 

Whereas the South China Sea potentially contains great natural resources, and their stewardship and responsible use 

offers immense potential benefit for generations to come; 

Whereas Brunei, Malaysia, China, Taiwan, Vietnam, and the 

Philippines have overlapping territorial, sovereignty, and 

jurisdictional claim to all or some of the Spratly Islands; 

Whereas, on January 23, 2013, the Philippines launched an 

arbitration process under an existing international mechanism challenging China’s claim of a ‘‘nine dash line’’ 

around the South China Sea; 

Whereas, although the United States does not take a position 

on competing territorial claims over land features and 


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maritime boundaries of the Spratly Islands, it does have 

a strong and long-standing interest in the manner in 

which disputes in the South China Sea are addressed and 

in the conduct of the parties; 

Whereas, even while the Government of the People’s Republic 

of China has refused to participate in formal arbitration 

with the Government of the Philippines, it should comply 

with any international ruling on competing territorial 

claims with the Philippines in the South China Sea; 

Whereas, in recent years, the Government of the People’s Republic of China has engaged in unilateral land reclamation and construction activities in the Spratly Islands 

that undermines regional stability and is counter to multilateral efforts for peaceful resolution of territorial, sovereignty, and jurisdictional disputes in the South China 

Sea; 

Whereas, although other claimants to the Spratly Islands 

have built small outposts and have engaged in minor 

maintenance on features they already occupy, in less than 

one year the Government of the People’s Republic of 

China has rapidly exceeded all preceding activities and 

acted on a much larger scale; 

Whereas, on November 4, 2002, the governments of the 

member states of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) and the Government of the People’s Republic of China signed a Declaration on the Conduct of 

Parties in the South China Sea that, among other things, 

declared, ‘‘The Parties undertake to exercise self-restraint in the conduct of activities that would complicate 

or escalate disputes and affect peace and stability including, among others, refraining from action of inhabiting 

on the presently uninhabited islands, reefs, shoals, cays, 


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and other features and to handle their differences in a 

constructive manner.’’; 

Whereas China’s land reclamation is estimated to cost the region’s littoral states $100,000,000 a year due to damage 

to the ecosystem and the degradation of fish stocks; 

Whereas, on March 23, 2015, satellite imagery showed the 

Government of the People’s Republic of China building a 

concrete runway on the Fiery Cross Reef that is expected 

to be 10,000 feet long and give the Chinese military the 

capability to land fighter jets and surveillance jets, which 

is destabilizing to regional peace and stability; 

Whereas satellite imagery also showed the Government of the 

People’s Republic of China unilaterally constructing island territory on Subi Reef that, if connected, would support an additional airstrip; 

Whereas satellite imagery also showed that Woody Island and 

Duncan Island have grown significantly due to Chinese 

land reclamation activities; 

Whereas, a March 16, 2015, image published by the Center 

for Strategic and International Studies showed that the 

Government of the People’s Republic of China constructed a chain of artificial land formations, new structures, fortified sea walls, and construction equipment 

along Mischief Reef, an area claimed by the Philippines 

and within its Exclusive Economic Zone; 

Whereas, in April 2015, the United States Office of Naval 

Intelligence published a report on the Chinese People’s 

Liberation Army Navy showing that the Government of 

the People’s Republic of China has reclaimed hundreds of 

acres of land at the seven features it occupies in the 

Spratly Islands throughout 2014 and stated that China 


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‘‘appears to be building much larger facilities that could 

support naval operations.’’; 

Whereas, on April 6, 2015, Secretary of Defense Ash Carter 

noted deep concerns regarding some of the activities of 

the Government of the People’s Republic of China, including ‘‘its behavior in places like the East and South 

China Seas.’’; 

Whereas, on April 9, 2015, President Barack Obama stated, 

‘‘Where [the United States gets] concerned with China is 

where it is not necessarily abiding by international norms 

and rules, and is using its size and muscle to force countries into subordinate positions. And that’s the concern 

we have around maritime issues.’’; 

Whereas, on April 16, 2015, the Commander of United 

States Pacific Command, Admiral Locklear, stated that 

Chinese land reclamation activities in the South China 

Sea ‘‘would give them de facto control in peacetime of 

much of the world’s most important waterways’’; that 

China could place ‘‘long-range detection radars’’ on the 

outposts in order to place more warships there; and that 

Southeast Asian nations are increasingly worried that 

China’s new capabilities will allow it to take de facto control of the surrounding waters; 

Whereas adding a military dimension to the territorial dispute exacerbates the risks of misperceptions, accidents, 

and other dangerous incidents in the Spratly Islands; 

Whereas, on April 9, 2015, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokeswoman, Hua Chunying, was quoted as saying, ‘‘After the 

construction, the islands and reefs will be able to provide 

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vilian demands besides satisfying the need of necessary 

military defense.’’; 

Whereas ASEAN has promoted multilateral talks on disputed 

areas without settling the issue of sovereignty, and committed with China in the 2002 Declaration on the Conduct of Parties in the South China Sea to ‘‘reaffirm their 

respect for and commitment to the freedom of navigation 

in and over flight above the South China Sea as provided 

for by the universally recognized principles of international law’’ and to ‘‘resolve their territorial and jurisdictional disputes by peaceful means, without resorting to 

the threat or use of force’’; 

Whereas the reclamation activities of the Government of the 

People’s Republic of China threaten ASEAN unity and 

its multilateral efforts to promote peaceful reconciliation 

of territorial, sovereignty, and jurisdictional disputes in 

the Spratly Islands and the broader South China Sea; 

and 

Whereas, on January 28, 2015, Philippine Foreign Secretary 

Alberto del Rosario urged ASEAN ‘‘to consider reaching 

out to the international community to say to China that 

what it is doing is wrong—that it must stop its reclamation activities at once’’: Now, therefore, be it 

1 Resolved, That the Senate— 

2 (1) condemns the Government of the People’s 

3 Republic of China’s unilateral construction of artifi4 cial land formations in the disputed Spratly Islands; 

5 (2) strongly urges all parties to maritime and 

6 territorial disputes in the region to respect the sta7 tus quo, exercise self-restraint in the conduct of acVerDate Sep 11 2014 03:05 May 22, 2015 Jkt 049200 PO 00000 Frm 00006 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\SR183.IS SR183

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1 tivities that would undermine stability or complicate 

2 or escalate disputes, refrain from inhabiting or gar3 risoning presently uninhabited islands, reefs, shoals, 

4 and other features, and refrain from unilateral ac5 tions that cause permanent physical change to the 

6 marine environment in areas pending final delimita7 tion; 

8 (3) urges the Government of the People’s Re9 public of China to clarify the meaning of its ‘‘nine 

10 dash line’’ claim and the maritime areas it claims 

11 within that space; 

12 (4) further urges the Government of the Peo13 ple’s Republic of China to clarify its intentions with 

14 respect to establishing ‘‘necessary military defense’’ 

15 on reclaimed features and condemns the militariza16 tion of disputed features; 

17 (5) supports efforts by parties to maritime and 

18 territorial disputes to handle their differences in a 

19 constructive manner and pursue their claims 

20 through peaceful, diplomatic, and legitimate regional 

21 and international arbitration mechanisms; 

22 (6) reaffirms the strong support of the United 

23 States for the member states of ASEAN as they 

24 seek to develop a code of conduct of parties in the 

25 South China Sea with the People’s Republic of 


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1 China, and urges China to enter into such negotia2 tions in a serious manner; 

3 (7) supports efforts to strengthen regional mar4 itime domain awareness; 

5 (8) supports efforts to strengthen maritime 

6 partner capacity, including through the sale and 

7 transfer of technology that promotes maritime do8 main awareness; and 

9 (9) supports the continuation of operations by 

10 the United States Armed Forces in support of free11 dom of navigation rights in international waters and 

12 air space in the South China Sea. 

Æ 


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