IV 
118TH CONGRESS 
1ST SESSION 
H. RES. 837 
Reaffirming the ties between the United States and the Philippines. 
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 
NOVEMBER 1, 2023 
Mr. MOYLAN (for himself and Mr. SCOTT of Virginia) submitted the following 
resolution; which was referred to the Committee on Foreign Affairs 
RESOLUTION 
Reaffirming the ties between the United States and the 
Philippines. 
Whereas the United States established diplomatic relations 
with the Philippines on July 4, 1946, and the two coun-
tries have since enjoyed expanded and positive relations; 
Whereas there are over 4,000,000 United States citizens of 
Philippine ancestry in the United States; 
Whereas the United States and the Philippines have a strong 
and mutually beneficial trade relationship, with more 
than $18,900,000,000 in goods and services traded dur-
ing 2020; 
Whereas the People’s Republic of China continues to use its 
Coast Guard and its Merchant Marine to violate the Phil-
ippines sovereignty, including in the Scarborough Shoal, 
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•HRES 837 IH 
Whereas Chinese Communist Party propaganda now assert 
claims based on a so-called ‘‘ten-dash line’’, after a 
United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea arbi-
tral tribunal ruled that China’s nine-dashed line had ‘‘no 
legal basis’’; 
Whereas in 1994, the People’s Republic of China unlawfully 
seized Mischief Reef and have since constructed 20 artifi-
cial islands that extends the operational capabilities of 
the People’s Liberation Army with the aim of expanding 
its presence and reinforcing their illegitimate claims to 
the South China Sea; 
Whereas the People’s Republic of China is asserting its 
sweeping claims over the South China Sea by disrupting 
the regular resupply of the BRP Sierra Madre, a Phil-
ippine Navy transport ship, based in the Second Thomas 
Shoal, by shooting water cannons at Philippine Coast 
Guard vessels and using military-grade lasers to blind its 
crew; 
Whereas, on April 3, 2023, the Biden administration an-
nounced plans today to expand the Enhanced Defense 
Cooperation Arrangement to include four new sites to 
strengthen interoperability and allow the United States 
and the Philippines to better address shared challenges in 
the Indo-Pacific region; 
Whereas, on August 5, 2023, the United States Department 
of State reaffirmed that ‘‘an armed attack on Philippine 
public vessels, aircraft, and armed forces—including 
those of its Coast Guard in the South China Sea—would 
invoke U.S. mutual defense commitments under Article 
IV of the 1951 U.S. Philippines Mutual Defense Treaty’’; 
and 
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•HRES 837 IH 
Whereas, on October 22, 2023, the Chinese Coast Guard 
rammed a Philippines Coast Guard cutter escorting sup-
plies to the Second Thomas Shoal within the Philippines 
exclusive economic zone: Now, therefore, be it 
Resolved, That the House of Representatives— 
(1) reaffirms the United States unwavering 
commitment to invoke its Mutual Defense Treaty 
with the Philippines if an armed attack against the 
Philippines assets, including those of the Philippine 
Coast Guard, is committed in the South China Sea; 
(2) calls on the United States and Philippines 
to begin joint patrols in the South China Sea; 
(3) firmly objects to the People’s Republic of 
China’s false sovereignty claims to the South China 
Sea; and 
(4) welcomes swift implementation of the En-
hanced Defense Cooperation Agreement to ensure 
we adhere to our commitments to the Philippine 
people, and to foster a free and open Indo-Pacific 
for all. 
Æ 
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