H. Res. 57
In the House of Representatives, U.S.,
February 2, 2005.
Whereas the United States and the European Union (EU)
have maintained arms embargoes on the People’s Repub-
lic of China since 1989, following the decision of the Chi-
nese Government on June 4, 1989, to order an
unprovoked, brutal, and indiscriminate assault on thou-
sands of peaceful and unarmed demonstrators and on-
lookers 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 acknowl-
edge and make amends for the 1989 massacre at
Tiananmen Square and an estimated 2,000 Chinese citi-
zens remain in prison as a result of their participation
in those peaceful demonstrations according to the De-
partment 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 re-
mains 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;
•HRES 57 EH
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 Depart-
ment 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 under-
pin 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 commit-
ments 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 stra-
tegic partners in the area of disarmament and non-pro-
liferation’’ 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-prolifera-
tion 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 Peo-
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ple’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 pen-
alties on entities for the transfer to Iran of certain con-
trolled equipment and technology, reflecting a time span
of more than a decade in which the United States Gov-
ernment 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 Re-
public 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 Repub-
lic 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 re-
port, 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 frame-
work 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
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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 co-
operation 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 navi-
gational satellite system, known as Galileo, at a cost of
more than $3,000,000,000, which will have military ap-
plications, 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 through-
out the region could be jeopardized by the People’s Re-
public 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 the Foreign
Relations Authorization Act, Fiscal Years 1990 and
1991 (Public Law 101–246);
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(2) finds that policies by the United States and
other countries which promote the development of de-
mocracy in the People’s Republic of China, and not the
development of Chinese military capabilities, will help as-
sure 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 Peo-
ple’s Republic of China and the European Council’s deci-
sion to finalize work toward lifting its arms embargo on
China, actions that place European security policy in di-
rect 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 relation-
ships that would be unwelcome on both sides of the At-
lantic;
(5) requests the President in his forthcoming meet-
ings with European leaders to urge that they reconsider
this unwise course of action and, instead, work expedi-
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tiously to close any gaps in the European Union’s arms
embargo on the People’s Republic of China, in the na-
tional 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 in-
formed of all developments in this regard.
Attest:
Clerk.