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“U.S.-CHINA RELATIONSHIP” mentioning the U.S. Dept of State was published in the Senate section on pages S2169-S2172 on April 3, 2017.
The State Department is responsibly for international relations with a budget of more than $50 billion. Tenure at the State Dept. is increasingly tenuous and it's seen as an extension of the President's will, ambitions and flaws.
The publication is reproduced in full below:
U.S.-CHINA RELATIONSHIP
Mr. GARDNER. Mr. President, I thank my colleague from Wisconsin for his remarks on Judge Gorsuch. I look forward to this debate this week as we work to confirm Judge Gorsuch to the U.S. Supreme Court in a bipartisan fashion.
This evening, though, I come to the floor to talk about another very important issue that is happening in this country this week; that is, the U.S.-China relationship that will be highlighted this week as President Trump prepares to meet with President Xi for the first time later this week.
This summer presents a tremendous opportunity for President Trump to expressly state our hope for the relationship, while also elucidating the valid concerns and questions we have about some of China's policies and its future directions.
I am also leading a bipartisan letter with Senator Schatz, and I hope my colleagues will join me in expressing our thoughts about this important relationship.
The U.S.-China relationship is the most consequential relationship in the world. We must get it right. Beijing must also get it right. So today I will address what I hope President Trump will focus on in his conversation with President Xi and also outline a legislative initiative that I am leading in Congress to strengthen our policies in the Asia-Pacific region.
I believe the most urgent challenge between our two nations is the coming nuclear crisis on the North Korean Peninsula. Last year alone, North Korea conducted two nuclear tests and a staggering 24 ballistic missile launches. Kim Jong Un is committed to developing his nuclear missile program with one goal in mind--to have a reliable capability to deliver a nuclear warhead to Seoul, Tokyo, and, most importantly, to the continental United States.
President Trump has said that the United States will not allow that to happen. I am encouraged by the President's resolve. However, the road to stopping Pyongyang undoubtedly lies through Beijing. Beijing is the reason the regime acts so boldly and with relative few consequences.
China is the only country that holds the diplomatic and economic leverage necessary to put the real squeeze on the North Korean regime. So while the United States argues over strategic patience or measured resolve, China must go beyond mere articulation of concern and lay out a transparent path forward on how they will work to denuclearize North Korea.
For our part, President Trump must lay out a simple calculus for President Xi: The United States will deploy every economic, diplomatic, and, if necessary, military tool at our disposal to deter Pyongyang and to protect our allies. China has a responsibility globally to do the same. As part of our toolbox, the administration should tell China it will now significantly ramp up the sanctions track. Last Congress, I led the North Korea Sanctions and Policy Enhancement Act, which passed the Senate by a vote of 96 to 0.
This legislation was the first stand-alone legislation in Congress regarding North Korea to impose mandatory sanctions on the regime's proliferation activities, human rights violations, and malicious cyber behavior. The administration must fully enforce this legislation, including imposing secondary sanctions on any Chinese entities that are aiding Pyongyang.
In addition, China must faithfully implement all United Nations Security Council resolutions with regard to North Korea, particularly resolutions 2270 and 2321, negotiated last year, which require China to drastically reduce coal imports from North Korea. China's record in this has been lackluster so far. China should stop being complicit in the labor abuses of Pyongyang and shut off avenues of cyber attack, as well, that are being perpetrated by North Korea through Chinese channels.
Two weeks ago, China's Foreign Minister, Wang Yi, called on the United States and South Korea to halt their annual joint military exercises in exchange for North Korea's suspending its missile and nuclear activities, a deal that the Trump administration rightfully rejected. We should let Beijing know that the United States will not negotiate with Pyongyang at the expense of the security of our allies.
Moreover, before any talks, we must demand that Pyongyang first meet the denuclearization commitments it had already agreed to and subsequently chose to discard. President Trump should unequivocally condemn the economic pressure exerted by Beijing on Seoul over the deployment of the Terminal High Altitude Area Defense, or THAAD, on South Korean territory. THAAD is a defensive system that in no way threatens China, and Beijing knows this.
Most importantly, President Trump should indicate to President Xi that a denuclearized Korean Peninsula is in both nation's interests. But to achieve this goal, Beijing must be made to choose whether it wants to work with the United States as a responsible leader to stop the madman in Pyongyang or bear and acknowledge the consequences of keeping him in power.
Another looming crisis in U.S.-China relations is the escalation of tension in the East and South China Seas. China's recent destabilizing activities and actions in the East China Sea and the South China Sea are contrary to international law, pose an increased risk of future conflict, and necessitate a strong U.S. and regional response.
Their actions seem at odds with their words. China has declared an illegitimate air defense identification zone in the East China Sea, has dramatically expanded its land reclamation activities in the South China Sea, and has clearly added a military element to it. Since 2013, according to the Department of Defense, China has reclaimed over 3,200 acres of artificial features in the South China Sea.
On July 12, 2016, an international tribunal in the Hague ruled that China violated the sovereignty of the Philippines with regard to maritime disputes between the two nations. Since 2015, China has also built facilities with potential military uses on the artificial islands, including three airstrips--two more than 10,000-feet long, and one nearly 9,000-feet long--hangers that can shelter jet fighters, harbors, anti-aircraft batteries, radars, and structures that could house surface-to-air missiles.
This last week, the Center for Strategic and International Studies Asia Maritime Transparency Initiative reported that major construction of military dual-use infrastructure on the ``Big 3''--Subi, Mischief, and Fiery Cross Reefs--is wrapping up, with naval, air, radar, and defensive facilities largely complete.
Beijing can now deploy military assets, according to AMTI, including combat aircraft and mobile missile launchers to the Spratly Islands at any time.
The United States must have consistent and assertive diplomatic engagement with China to reinforce that these rogue activities fall outside of accepted international norms. The U.S. defense posture in this region should remain exactly what Secretary of Defense Ashton Carter said at the Shangri-La Dialogue in Singapore on May 30, 2015. I quote Secretary Carter:
The United States will fly, sail, and operate wherever international law allows, as U.S. forces do all over the world. America, alongside its allies and partners in the regional architecture, will not be deterred from exercising these rights--the rights of all nations.
A consistent, deliberate, and assertive policy to do just that is imperative for the United States. During the upcoming summit, I hope that President Trump can set an agenda for positive economic engagement with China and recognize that this is a two-way street. As the top two economies in the world, our nations are inextricably linked, and we must continue to build a trade partnership that benefits the United States, our companies, and U.S. exporters. However, this engagement also means ensuring that China plays fair.
First and foremost, China must stop its state-sponsored and state-
endorsed theft of foreign intellectual property. According to a report by the Intellectual Property Commission, chaired by ADM Dennis Blair, the former U.S. Commander of the Pacific Command, and John Huntsman, the former Ambassador to China, the theft of U.S. intellectual property is estimated at over $300 billion annually, and China accounts for about 50 to 80 percent of that amount.
China must understand that this behavior with regard to the massive and well documented theft of foreign intellectual property is unacceptable and antithetical to international norms. China also needs significant improvement to its legal system and to further open its economy to foreign and private investment.
China must understand that new regulations that seek to discriminate against American companies, anti-market policies that favor state-owned enterprises, lack of transparency, and other policies that create an uneven playing field for the United States and our enterprises in China are not acceptable, and that those protectionist behaviors will only further isolate China or hurt their global competitiveness, if they are adopted globally, as they seek to engage further in the world's economy.
While many American firms still look to China as a top priority to grow and succeed in the global marketplace, without tangible economic and legal reforms within China, I fear that these opportunities will be more limited in the future and seriously jeopardize the bilateral commercial relations between our two nations. But if Beijing changes course, the upside of these reforms for China and the United States can be enormous.
A pillar of any nation that seeks a prosperous future and a future with a strong relationship with the United States must be international freedoms. As President Kennedy once stated: ``The rights of every man are diminished when the rights of one man are threatened.''
President Trump should heed President Kennedy's wise words and raise China's deplorable human rights record with President Xi. Chinese authorities are intensifying human rights abuses and cracking down on civil society. According to the State Department's 2015 Human Rights Report on China: ``Repression and coercion markedly increased during the year against organizations and individuals involved in civil and political rights advocacy and public interest and ethnic minority issues.''
According to the State Department's 2015 International Religious Freedom Report on China: ``Over this past year, there continued to be reports that the government physically abused, detained, arrested, tortured, sentenced to prison, or harassed adherents of both registered and unregistered religious groups for activities related to their beliefs and practices.''
We simply cannot and will not accept this type of behavior from a nation that wants to be thought of as a genuine global partner of the United States. I believe that China's rise can only be peaceful and balanced with a vigorous U.S. presence in the Asia-Pacific region that is able to check Beijing's worst impulses.
Last May, while attending the Shangri-La Dialogue, I heard a tremendous amount of concern from the region's top leaders about U.S. presence in the Asia-Pacific region and our commitment to remaining engaged in this critical part of the world. The Trump administration is inheriting a flawed Asia rebalance policy from the previous administration, which was right in rhetoric but ultimately came up short in meaningful action. The new administration and the new Congress ushers in a new era of opportunities with regard to U.S. policy toward the Asia Pacific.
But despite the political changes in Washington, U.S. policy imperatives will remain the same. The Asia-Pacific region has been and will be crucial and critical to U.S. economic and national security interests for generations to come. By 2050, experts estimate that Asia will account for over half of the global population and half of the world's gross domestic product.
We cannot ignore the fundamental fact that this region is critical for the U.S. economy to grow and to create jobs through export opportunities. Last week, I held a committee hearing with Ambassador Bob Gallucci, former Ambassador to South Korea, and Congressman Randy Forbes, from Virginia, who was the chairman of some key committees as they dealt with Asia and our naval forces.
In Congressman Forbes' testimony, he also expressed the importance of this region, the Asia Pacific, in these terms: In the coming decades, this is the region where the largest armies in the world will camp. This is the region where the most powerful navies in the world will gather. This is the region where over one-half of the world's commerce will take place and two-thirds will travel. This is the region where a maritime superhighway--transporting good or bad things--linking the Indian subcontinent, Southeast Asia, Australia, Northeast Asia, and the United States begins. This is the region where five of America's seven defense treaties are located. This is the region where two superpowers will compete to determine which world order will prevail. This is the region where the seeds of conflict that could most engulf the world will probably be planted.
This is why I am pursuing legislation called the Asia Reassurance Initiative Act, ARIA, a new approach that will put American interests first by reassuring our allies, deterring our adversaries, and securing U.S. leadership in the region for future generations.
The ARIA will pursue three broad goals.
First, it will strengthen U.S. security commitments to our allies and build partner capacity in the Asia Pacific to deter aggression, project power, and combat terrorism. To do so, the ARIA legislation will authorize funds to bolster U.S. military presence in the region, grow partner nation maritime capabilities to deter aggression in their territorial waters, and build new counterterrorism partner programs in Southeast Asia to combat the growing presence of ISIS and other terrorist organizations.
ARIA will also enshrine a policy of regularly enforcing U.S. freedom of navigation and overflight rights in the East and South China Seas.
We will reaffirm our longstanding treaty alliances with Australia, South Korea, and Japan, and call for building new regional security partnerships. We will unequivocally back our ally Taiwan, including authorizing new arms sales and providing for enhanced diplomatic contacts with Taipei.
Second, ARIA will promote diplomatic engagement and securing U.S. market access in the Asia Pacific region as essential elements for the future growth of the U.S. economy and success of American businesses. To do so, ARIA will also require that the Trump administration find new and innovative ways to economically engage the region. We will require the U.S. Government to enhance our trade facilitation efforts and increase opportunities for U.S. businesses to find new export markets in the Asia Pacific. U.S.-made exports to Asia will mean more good-
paying American jobs at home, which is a great situation for this country.
Third, it will enshrine promotion of democracy, human rights, and transparency as key U.S. policy objectives in the Asia Pacific region, particularly in Southeast Asia. From Manila to Rangoon, we should advocate for principled policies that emphasize accountability and transparency as indispensable elements of building any security or economic partnerships with the United States.
To inform this initiative, I have met with numerous key stakeholders in Congress and the administration. I am also holding a series of hearings in my subcommittee, the first of which took place last week.
I look forward to working with the Congress and all of our colleagues as we work to advance this initiative. I welcome the input of my colleagues as well.
There is no doubt that the rise of China over the last 30-plus years has been remarkable. China has lifted 500 million people from poverty since Premier Deng Xiaoping began his economic reforms in 1979, and it is now the second largest economy in the world. In that time, our relationship with China has emerged as perhaps the world's most important bilateral relationship, both from an economic and security perspective.
I believe that a mature, productive, and peaceful relationship with Beijing is in the national security and economic interests of the United States. For both nations, the importance of this relationship can make a significant difference for the world.
While the United States can and should seek to engage China, we must do so with a clear vision of what we want from Beijing, not just over the next 4 years but also over the next 40 years. So it is my sincere hope that President Trump leads with this sense of strategy and purpose when he meets President Xi later this week.
I know my colleague from Ohio has joined us, so I again want to express my appreciation to my colleague from Ohio for his leadership on a number of issues, including the opiate epidemic that has struck so many of our communities and States. It is so terrifying.
Mr. President, I yield the floor.
The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from Ohio.
Mr. PORTMAN. Mr. President, I want to thank my colleague from Colorado. He does chair a subcommittee that I am a part of. We had a great hearing last week, talking about China and the South China Sea issues, as he mentioned. We did talk about North Korea and the need for this summit between President Xi and President Trump to include a discussion of how China could be more constructive, including the possibility of additional sanctions on North Korea to try to get some sort of pressure on the North Koreans to do the right thing and back off their nuclear program.
We also talked about trade. To level the playing field, we need trade, particularly allowing U.S. companies to have the ability to do what Chinese companies can do here in this country. And my colleague talked a little about that this evening.
I will say--because he mentioned the issue of opioids--there is another topic that I hope President Trump will raise with President Xi, and that is this issue of synthetic heroin being produced in China, which actually comes into our communities. In Denver, CO, or in Columbus, OH, we have through the mail system these poisons coming in, synthetic heroin coming through the mail from China.
We are told by law enforcement officials that most of these laboratories are in China. These are evil scientists in China who are making this incredibly potent, dangerous drug. It is 30 to 50 times more powerful than heroin. Three flakes of it can kill you. They are putting it into packages and sending it into our communities through the mail.
It is a topic that I hope comes up--in addition to the very important ones that my colleague has raised and we talked about in the hearing last week--which is: How do you get China to actually crack down on these laboratories? And how do you get them to schedule these drugs so that they are illegal in China, to ensure the inputs into the laboratories and the final drug itself?
By the way, the Chinese should have a strong interest in this because, I will guarantee you, there are people in China who are also becoming addicted to opioids because of this inexpensive, incredibly dangerous synthetic heroin that is being promoted by these Chinese scientists.
My hope is that this will be a successful summit and among the very important issues raised is this opioid issue, which is so important to our communities.
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