Title: A bill to require a study conducted by the Secretary of State on the future of arms control with the People's Republic of China.
Policy area: International Affairs

Summary:
This bill requires the Department of State to report to Congress on the approaches and strategic effects of engaging China on arms control issues. The report shall address issues including (1) areas of potential dialogue, (2) Chinese strategic military capabilities that are of the most concern, and (3) opportunities for multilateral arms control in the region.

[Congressional Bills 116th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[S. 3844 Introduced in Senate (IS)]

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116th CONGRESS
  2d Session
                                S. 3844

To require a study conducted by the Secretary of State on the future of 
           arms control with the People's Republic of China.


_______________________________________________________________________


                   IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES

                              May 21, 2020

 Mr. Menendez introduced the following bill; which was read twice and 
             referred to the Committee on Foreign Relations

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 A BILL


 
To require a study conducted by the Secretary of State on the future of 
           arms control with the People's Republic of China.

    Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the 
United States of America in Congress assembled,

SECTION 1. FINDINGS.

    Congress makes the following findings:
            (1) Since 1964, the People's Republic of China has been a 
        nuclear weapons state and has developed strategic and tactical 
        systems capable of threatening the United States, United States 
        allies and partners, and United States and alliance assets in 
        the Indo-Pacific region.
            (2) The Government of the People's Republic of China 
        continues to develop additional nuclear, space, cyberspace, and 
        other advanced and emerging capabilities with the ability to 
        threaten targets across the globe.
            (3) The People's Republic of China maintains limited, 
        survivable nuclear forces intended to guarantee a damaging 
        retaliatory strike, with its strategic nuclear forces 
        consisting of approximately 90 nuclear-capable intercontinental 
        ballistic missiles (ICBMs) and 300 nuclear warheads.
            (4) According to the Department of Defense, in addition to 
        its ICBM capabilities, the People's Republic of China retains 
        four operational JIN-class (Type 094) nuclear-powered ballistic 
        missile submarines (SSBNs) with two more under construction, 
        all of which carry the modern JL-2 submarine-launched ballistic 
        missile (SLBM).
            (5) According to the Defense Intelligence Agency's (DIA) 
        2019 China Military Power Report, the People's Republic of 
        China's nuclear delivery systems continue to undergo a 
        modernization program that will make its arsenal ``more mobile, 
        responsive, and accurate''.
            (6) The DIA also reports that the People's Liberation Army 
        Rocket Forces (PLARF) fields appropriately 1,200 short-range 
        missiles and hundreds of medium-range ballistic missiles that 
        have the ability to strike Taiwan and other regional targets.
            (7) In 2007, the Government of the People's Republic of 
        China used an anti-satellite missile to destroy a weather 
        satellite, creating potentially hazardous debris in a heavily 
        used belt of Earth's orbit.
            (8) The People's Liberation Army continues to develop anti-
        satellite capabilities, including research and possible 
        development of directed energy weapons and satellite jammers.
            (9) In October 2019, the Government of the People's 
        Republic of China exhibited DF-17 missiles, a hypersonic glider 
        with the ability to rapidly maneuver at high speeds during 
        flight. Hypersonic guide vehicles create a new threat to 
        critical infrastructure, including the United States command 
        and control system.
            (10) On December 3, 2019, Assistant Secretary of State for 
        International Security and Nonproliferation Christopher Ford, 
        in testimony before the Committee on Foreign Relations of the 
        Senate, said President Donald J. Trump ``has publicly called 
        for us to engage both Moscow and Beijing in a new project of 
        trilateral arms control to help effectively manage strategic 
        competition and build towards a better, safer, and more 
        prosperous future together''.

SEC. 2. APPROPRIATE CONGRESSIONAL COMMITTEES DEFINED.

    In this Act, the term ``appropriate congressional committees'' 
means--
            (1) the Committee on Foreign Relations and the Committee on 
        Armed Services of the Senate; and
            (2) the Committee on Foreign Affairs and the Committee on 
        Armed Services of the House of Representatives.

SEC. 3. STATEMENT OF POLICY.

    It is the policy of the United States that an arms control dialogue 
with the People's Republic of China, coordinated with United States 
allies and shaped by a coherent Indo-Pacific strategy, is in the 
national security interests of the United States.

SEC. 4. REPORT ON THE FUTURE OF UNITED STATES-CHINA ARMS CONTROL.

    Not later than 180 days after the date of the enactment of this 
Act, the Secretary of State, in coordination with the Secretary of 
Defense, shall submit to the appropriate congressional committees a 
report, and a separate classified annex, that examines the approaches 
and strategic effects of engaging the People's Republic of China on 
arms control, including--
            (1) areas of potential dialogue between the Governments of 
        the United States and the People's Republic of China, including 
        on nuclear, ballistic, and cruise missiles, conventional 
        forces, space, and cyberspace issues, as well as other new 
        strategic domains, which could reduce the likelihood of war, 
        limit escalation if a conflict were to occur, and constrain a 
        destabilizing arms race in the Indo-Pacific;
            (2) how the United States Government can foster increased 
        interest on the part of the Government of the People's Republic 
        of China in arms control;
            (3) identifying strategic military capabilities of the 
        People's Republic of China that the United States Government is 
        most concerned about and how limiting these capabilities may 
        benefit United States and allied security interests;
            (4) opportunities for multilateral arms control in the 
        Indo-Pacific region;
            (5) mechanisms to avoid, manage, or control nuclear, 
        conventional, and unconventional military escalation between 
        the United States and the People's Republic of China; and
            (6) opportunities and methods to create strategic 
        transparency between the United States and the People's 
        Republic of China.
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