[Congressional Bills 117th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H. Res. 1106 Introduced in House (IH)]
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117th CONGRESS
2d Session
H. RES. 1106
Expressing support for the Association of Southeast Asian Nations, its
member states, and the United States-ASEAN Special Summit in
Washington, DC, and reaffirming the commitment of the United States to
continue to remain a strong, reliable, and active partner to ASEAN in
the Indo-Pacific.
_______________________________________________________________________
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
May 11, 2022
Mr. Castro of Texas (for himself, Mrs. Wagner, Mr. Bera, and Mr. Meeks)
submitted the following resolution; which was referred to the Committee
on Foreign Affairs
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RESOLUTION
Expressing support for the Association of Southeast Asian Nations, its
member states, and the United States-ASEAN Special Summit in
Washington, DC, and reaffirming the commitment of the United States to
continue to remain a strong, reliable, and active partner to ASEAN in
the Indo-Pacific.
Whereas the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (referred to in this
resolution as ``ASEAN'') was established in 1967 to accelerate the
economic growth, social progress, and cultural development of its member
states, and to promote peace and stability in Southeast Asia;
Whereas the United States has been an ASEAN Dialogue Partner since 1977, and
acceded to the Treaty of Amity and Cooperation in Southeast Asia in
2009;
Whereas the United States appointed its first Ambassador to ASEAN in 2008, and
was the first ASEAN Dialogue Partner to establish a permanent mission to
ASEAN in 2010;
Whereas United States-ASEAN dialogue relations were elevated to the strategic
level in 2015, and the United States hosted the United States-ASEAN
Special Leaders Summit in Sunnylands, California, in 2016;
Whereas the United States will host the first United States-ASEAN Special Summit
in Washington, DC, on May 12 and 13, 2022, demonstrating the enduring
commitment of the United States to ASEAN;
Whereas considered as a group, the 10 ASEAN member states have a combined gross
domestic product of $3,200,000,000,000 and are projected to be the
fourth-largest economy in the world by 2030;
Whereas ASEAN states are the top destination for United States foreign direct
investment in the Indo-Pacific, with the cumulative total of
$328,000,000,000, exceeding the combined amount invested in China,
India, Japan, and the Republic of Korea;
Whereas ASEAN is the fourth-largest destination for United States goods and
exports, with annual volume exceeding $122,000,000,000, exports to ASEAN
support 625,000 jobs in all 50 States;
Whereas the United States has provided support to the ASEAN Single Window to
enhance trade facilitation and customs procedures across the ASEAN
economic community;
Whereas the United States-ASEAN Smart Cities Partnership, launched in 2018,
harnesses the expertise of the United States Government and private
sector to address the challenges of rapid urbanization and create smart,
sustainable cities in cooperation with the 26 cities participating in
the ASEAN Smart Cities Network;
Whereas the Mekong-United States Partnership, launched in 2020, builds on the
work of the Lower Mekong Initiative to encourage equitable growth in the
Lower Mekong region of Southeast Asia in cooperation through improved
governance, increased capacity to manage natural resources, sustainable
infrastructure, nontraditional security, and health security;
Whereas the Japan-United States Mekong Power Partnership supports the Mekong
region's integration and cross-border electricity trade, leveraging the
joint capabilities the United States and its partners and underscoring
the shared desire to forge stronger ties with the Lower Mekong region;
Whereas the United States has cooperated with ASEAN member states and provided
emergency health assistance to enhance the resilience of ASEAN states
throughout the COVID-19 pandemic building on more than $3,500,000,000
invested by the United States in ASEAN public health initiatives over
the last 20 years;
Whereas the United States announced the intent to provide up to $102,000,000 in
new initiatives expanding our partnership with ASEAN during the October
26, 2021, United States-ASEAN summit, encompassing cooperation on public
health, economic development, resilience and sustainability, and
education;
Whereas the United States and ASEAN have robust people-to-people ties, with at
least 7,600,000 Americans identifying with an ASEAN ethnicity and at
least 110 ``sister relationships'' between cities and States in the
United States and States and localities;
Whereas, in 2019, 4,800,000 Americans visited an ASEAN country and 1,300,000
people from an ASEAN country visited the United States, contributing
nearly $8,000,000,000 in tourism revenue to the United States economy;
Whereas more than 55,000 students from an ASEAN country studied in the United
States during the 2019 to 2020 academic year;
Whereas over 12,700 scholars from ASEAN states have participated in the
Fulbright program since its founding in 1949, and more than 6,800
students from the United States have participated in Fulbright programs
in ASEAN countries;
Whereas the United States Government launched the Young Southeast Asian Leaders
Initiative in 2013 to empower emerging entrepreneurs and civil society
leaders to contribute to social and economic development in their
communities;
Whereas the United States has engaged ASEAN on transnational security issues
including maritime security, counterterrorism, and law enforcement
cooperation on transnational crime and trafficking in persons through
ASEAN-convened mechanisms such as the ASEAN Regional Forum, ASEAN
Defense Ministers Meeting Plus, the ASEAN Senior Officials Meeting on
Transnational Crime, and East Asia Summit;
Whereas the United States and ASEAN held their first maritime exercise in 2019;
Whereas the United States and ASEAN have cooperated on emerging issues such as
cybersecurity through fora such as the ASEAN-United States Cyber Policy
Dialogue, launched in 2019;
Whereas the United States has robust bilateral security partnerships with many
ASEAN states, including alliances with the Philippines and Thailand;
Whereas 6 ASEAN militaries partner with the National Guard of 4 States through
the National Guard State Partnership Program;
Whereas friends must be honest about challenges as well as working together on
their strengths;
Whereas the Burmese Armed Forces conducted an illegitimate and illegal coup in
2021, usurped the democratic Government of Burma, detained thousands of
civilians, killed hundreds of citizens, and displaced more than 440,000
people;
Whereas the Burmese junta has failed to make meaningful progress on ASEAN's
Five-Point Consensus or receive official recognition from ASEAN;
Whereas the United States remains concerned about democratic backsliding and the
erosion of protections of fundamental human rights in Southeast Asia;
Whereas the Indo-Pacific Strategy of the United States and the ASEAN outlook on
the Indo-Pacific both emphasize common principles, including an
inclusive and open regional architecture based on the rule of law, good
governance, and respect for international law, and that shared vision is
a strong basis for closer relations and continued cooperation towards a
free and open Indo-Pacific; and
Whereas the February 2022 Indo-Pacific Strategy of the United States stated:
``The United States. . .welcomes a strong and independent ASEAN that
leads in Southeast Asia. We endorse ASEAN centrality and support ASEAN
in its efforts to deliver sustainable solutions to the region's most
pressing challenges.'': Now, therefore, be it
Resolved, That the House of Representatives--
(1) welcomes official representatives from the Governments
of Brunei, Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, the
Philippines, Singapore, Thailand, and Vietnam to attend the
first United States-ASEAN Special Summit in Washington, DC;
(2) supports the comprehensive strengthening of the United
States-ASEAN Strategic Partnership in line with the ASEAN
Community Pillars, with the aim of upgrading United States-
ASEAN dialogue relations to a comprehensive strategic
partnership;
(3) supports the decision of the Association of Southeast
Asian Nations to invite nonpolitical representatives from Burma
to high-level ASEAN events;
(4) calls for the swift and complete implementation of the
ASEAN Five-Point Consensus on Myanmar, decided on April 24,
2021;
(5) urges the immediate cessation of violence in Burma,
constructive and inclusive dialogue with all political
stakeholders, access for humanitarian aid and organizations and
full respect for human rights, including release of persons
unjustly detained;
(6) urges the United States-ASEAN Special Summit to
prioritize--
(A) the pursuit of a robust economic agenda; and
(B) good governance, the rule of law, and human
rights and address the trend of democratic backsliding
in Southeast Asia, including the 2021 coup in Burma;
(7) calls on the administration to promptly nominate a
qualified individual to serve as the Ambassador to ASEAN to
facilitate diplomatic engagement with ASEAN countries, and to
maintain continued commitment to high-level representation at
the East Asia Summit and other ASEAN forums;
(8) supports efforts to enhance integration and unity
within ASEAN, and build new partnerships between ASEAN and
other partners of the United States in the region, including
Japan, the Republic of Korea, Australia, the European Union,
Taiwan, and India;
(9) urges ASEAN to build capacity for the promotion and
protection of human rights by ASEAN member states and the
implementation of related priorities, programs, and activities;
(10) calls on ASEAN to reaffirm its commitment, consistent
with the ASEAN Charter and Treaty of Amity and Cooperation, to
the sovereignty, independence, unity, and territorial integrity
of Ukraine within its internationally recognized borders, and
to call for an immediate ceasefire and withdrawal of Russian
forces from Ukraine;
(11) acknowledges the governments of ASEAN member states
that have fully upheld and implemented all United Nations
Security Council resolutions and international agreements with
respect to nuclear and ballistic missile programs in the
Democratic People's Republic of Korea, and encourages all other
ASEAN member states to do the same;
(12) urges ASEAN member states and other states in the
region, such as the People's Republic of China, to addressing
maritime and territorial disputes in a peaceful manner, in
accordance with customary international law, using diplomacy
and legitimate regional and international arbitration
mechanisms, as well as the adoption of a Code of Conduct in the
South China Sea that represents the interests of all parties
and promotes peace and stability in the region;
(13) urges all claimants involved in maritime and
territorial disputes in the Indo-Pacific region to--
(A) cease any current activities, and avoid
undertaking any actions in the future that undermine
stability or complicate or escalate disputes through
the use of coercion, intimidation, or military force;
(B) demilitarize islands, reefs, shoals, and other
features, and refrain from new efforts to construct new
garrisons and facilities or relocate military
personnel, material, or equipment;
(C) oppose actions by any country that prevent
other countries from exercising their sovereign rights
to the resources in their exclusive economic zones and
extended continental shelves by enforcing claims to
those areas in the South China Sea that lack support in
international law;
(D) oppose unilateral declarations of
administrative and military districts in contested
areas in the South China Sea; and
(E) refrain from unilateral actions that cause
permanent physical damage to the marine environment;
(14) recognizes that ASEAN, as a regional organization with
a security mission, plays an important role in maintaining
peace and stability in the Southeast Asian region and supports
the assistance of the Department of Defense to build ASEAN's
institutional capacity to collectively address regional
security challenges;
(15) supports cooperation between the United States, ASEAN,
and individual ASEAN member states to--
(A) enhance maritime capability and maritime domain
awareness;
(B) protect freedom of navigation, overflight, and
other lawful uses of the seas in the Indo-Pacific
region;
(C) counter piracy and disrupt illicit maritime
trafficking of persons, goods, or narcotics; and
(D) enhance the capabilities of countries or
regional organizations to respond to emerging risks to
maritime security in the Indo-Pacific region;
(16) reaffirms the commitment of the United States to
continue joint efforts to halt human smuggling and trafficking
in persons, and urges ASEAN to create and strengthen regional
mechanisms to provide assistance and support to refugees and
migrants;
(17) supports the Young Southeast Asian Leaders Initiative
as an example of a people-to-people partnership that provides
skills, networks, and leadership training to a new generation
who will create and fill jobs, foster cross-border cooperation
and partnerships, and rise to solve the regional and global
challenges of the future;
(18) encourages the enhancement of economic engagement
between the United States and ASEAN through the elimination of
trade barriers; and
(19) supports innovative programs to promote development
and sustainable growth in Southeast Asia, including the Mekong-
United States Partnership and United States-ASEAN Smart Cities
Partnership, and urges the continued development of such
programs, responsive to local needs, in coordination with
United States allies and partners.
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