[Congressional Bills 118th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[S. 591 Introduced in Senate (IS)]
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118th CONGRESS
1st Session
S. 591
To impose sanctions with respect to the People's Republic of China in
relation to activities in the South China Sea and the East China Sea,
and for other purposes.
_______________________________________________________________________
IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES
March 1, 2023
Mr. Rubio (for himself and Mr. Cardin) introduced the following bill;
which was read twice and referred to the Committee on Foreign Relations
_______________________________________________________________________
A BILL
To impose sanctions with respect to the People's Republic of China in
relation to activities in the South China Sea and the East China Sea,
and for other purposes.
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the
United States of America in Congress assembled,
SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.
This Act may be cited as the ``South China Sea and East China Sea
Sanctions Act of 2023''.
SEC. 2. SANCTIONS WITH RESPECT TO CHINESE PERSONS RESPONSIBLE FOR
CHINA'S ACTIVITIES IN THE SOUTH CHINA SEA AND THE EAST
CHINA SEA.
(a) Initial Imposition of Sanctions.--On and after the date that is
120 days after the date of the enactment of this Act, the President may
impose the sanctions described in subsection (b) with respect to any
Chinese person, including any senior official of the Government of the
People's Republic of China, that the President determines--
(1) is responsible for or significantly contributes to
large-scale reclamation, construction, militarization, or
ongoing supply of outposts in disputed areas of the South China
Sea;
(2) is responsible for or significantly contributes to, or
has engaged in, directly or indirectly, actions, including the
use of coercion, to inhibit another country from protecting its
sovereign rights to access offshore resources in the South
China Sea, including in such country's exclusive economic zone,
consistent with such country's rights and obligations under
international law;
(3) is responsible for or complicit in, or has engaged in,
directly or indirectly, actions that significantly threaten the
peace, security, or stability of disputed areas of the South
China Sea or areas of the East China Sea administered by Japan
or the Republic of Korea, including through the use of vessels
and aircraft by the People's Republic of China to occupy or
conduct extensive research or drilling activity in those areas;
(4) has materially assisted, sponsored, or provided
financial, material, or technological support for, or goods or
services to, or in support of, any person subject to sanctions
pursuant to paragraph (1), (2), or (3); or
(5) is owned or controlled by, or has acted for or on
behalf of, directly or indirectly, any person subject to
sanctions pursuant to paragraph (1), (2), or (3).
(b) Sanctions Described.--The sanctions that may be imposed with
respect to a person described in subsection (a) are the following:
(1) Blocking of property.--The President may, in accordance
with the International Emergency Economic Powers Act (50 U.S.C.
1701 et seq.), block and prohibit all transactions in all
property and interests in property of the person if such
property and interests in property are in the United States,
come within the United States, or are or come within the
possession or control of a United States person.
(2) Ineligibility for visas, admission, or parole.--
(A) Visas, admission, or parole.--In the case of an
alien, the alien may be--
(i) inadmissible to the United States;
(ii) ineligible to receive a visa or other
documentation to enter the United States; and
(iii) otherwise ineligible to be admitted
or paroled into the United States or to receive
any other benefit under the Immigration and
Nationality Act (8 U.S.C. 1101 et seq.).
(B) Current visas revoked.--
(i) In general.--An alien described in
subparagraph (A) may be subject to revocation
of any visa or other entry documentation
regardless of when the visa or other entry
documentation is or was issued.
(ii) Immediate effect.--A revocation under
clause (i) may--
(I) take effect immediately; and
(II) cancel any other valid visa or
entry documentation that is in the
alien's possession.
(3) Exclusion of corporate officers.--The President may
direct the Secretary of State to deny a visa to, and the
Secretary of Homeland Security to exclude from the United
States, any alien that the President determines is a corporate
officer or principal of, or a shareholder with a controlling
interest in, the person.
(4) Export sanction.--The President may order the United
States Government not to issue any specific license and not to
grant any other specific permission or authority to export any
goods or technology to the person under--
(A) the Export Control Reform Act of 2018 (50
U.S.C. 4801 et seq.); or
(B) any other statute that requires the prior
review and approval of the United States Government as
a condition for the export or reexport of goods or
services.
(5) Inclusion on entity list.--The President may include
the entity on the entity list maintained by the Bureau of
Industry and Security of the Department of Commerce and set
forth in Supplement No. 4 to part 744 of the Export
Administration Regulations, for activities contrary to the
national security or foreign policy interests of the United
States.
(6) Ban on investment in equity or debt of sanctioned
person.--The President may, pursuant to such regulations or
guidelines as the President may prescribe, prohibit any United
States person from investing in or purchasing equity or debt
instruments of the person.
(7) Banking transactions.--The President may, pursuant to
such regulations as the President may prescribe, prohibit any
transfers of credit or payments between financial institutions
or by, through, or to any financial institution, to the extent
that such transfers or payments are subject to the jurisdiction
of the United States and involve any interest of the person.
(8) Correspondent and payable-through accounts.--In the
case of a foreign financial institution, the President may
prohibit the opening, and prohibit or impose strict conditions
on the maintaining, in the United States of a correspondent
account or a payable-through account by the foreign financial
institution.
(c) Exceptions.--
(1) Inapplicability of national emergency requirement.--The
requirements of section 202 of the International Emergency
Economic Powers Act (50 U.S.C. 1701) shall not apply for
purposes of subsection (b)(1).
(2) Exception for intelligence, law enforcement, and
national security activities.--Sanctions under this section
shall not apply to any authorized intelligence, law
enforcement, or national security activities of the United
States.
(3) Compliance with united nations headquarters
agreement.--Paragraphs (2) and (3) of subsection (b) shall not
apply if admission of an alien to the United States is
necessary to permit the United States to comply with the
Agreement regarding the Headquarters of the United Nations,
signed at Lake Success, June 26, 1947, and entered into force,
November 21, 1947, between the United Nations and the United
States.
(4) Exception relating to importation of goods.--
(A) In general.--The authority or a requirement to
impose sanctions under this section shall not include
the authority or a requirement to impose sanctions on
the importation of goods.
(B) Good defined.--In this paragraph, the term
``good'' means any article, natural or manmade
substance, material, supply, or manufactured product,
including inspection and test equipment, and excluding
technical data.
(d) Implementation; Penalties.--
(1) Implementation.--The President may exercise all
authorities provided under sections 203 and 205 of the
International Emergency Economic Powers Act (50 U.S.C. 1702 and
1704) to carry out this section.
(2) Penalties.--The penalties provided for in subsections
(b) and (c) of section 206 of the International Emergency
Economic Powers Act (50 U.S.C. 1705) shall apply to a person
that violates, attempts to violate, conspires to violate, or
causes a violation of regulations prescribed under subsection
(b)(1) to the same extent that such penalties apply to a person
that commits an unlawful act described in subsection (a) of
such section 206.
(e) Definitions.--In this section:
(1) Account; correspondent account; payable-through
account.--The terms ``account'', ``correspondent account'', and
``payable-through account'' have the meanings given those terms
in section 5318A of title 31, United States Code.
(2) Alien.--The term ``alien'' has the meaning given that
term in section 101(a) of the Immigration and Nationality Act
(8 U.S.C. 1101(a)).
(3) Chinese person.--The term ``Chinese person'' means--
(A) an individual who is a citizen or national of
the People's Republic of China; or
(B) an entity organized under the laws of the
People's Republic of China or otherwise subject to the
jurisdiction of the Government of the People's Republic
of China.
(4) Financial institution.--The term ``financial
institution'' means a financial institution specified in
subparagraph (A), (B), (C), (D), (E), (F), (G), (H), (I), (J),
(K), (M), (N), (P), (R), (T), (Y), or (Z) of section 5312(a)(2)
of title 31, United States Code.
(5) Foreign financial institution.--The term ``foreign
financial institution'' has the meaning given that term in
section 1010.605 of title 31, Code of Federal Regulations (or
any corresponding similar regulation or ruling).
(6) Person.--The term ``person'' means any individual or
entity.
(7) United states person.--The term ``United States
person'' means--
(A) a United States citizen or an alien lawfully
admitted for permanent residence to the United States;
(B) an entity organized under the laws of the
United States or of any jurisdiction within the United
States, including a foreign branch of such an entity;
or
(C) any person in the United States.
SEC. 3. SENSE OF CONGRESS REGARDING PORTRAYALS OF THE SOUTH CHINA SEA
OR THE EAST CHINA SEA AS PART OF CHINA.
It is the sense of Congress that the Government Publishing Office
should not publish any map, document, record, electronic resource, or
other paper of the United States (other than materials relating to
hearings held by committees of Congress or internal work product of a
Federal agency) portraying or otherwise indicating that it is the
position of the United States that the territory or airspace in the
South China Sea that is disputed among two or more parties or the
territory or airspace of areas administered by Japan or the Republic of
Korea, including in the East China Sea, is part of the territory or
airspace of the People's Republic of China.
SEC. 4. SENSE OF CONGRESS ON 2016 PERMANENT COURT OF ARBITRATION'S
TRIBUNAL RULING ON ARBITRATION CASE BETWEEN PHILIPPINES
AND PEOPLE'S REPUBLIC OF CHINA.
(a) Finding.--Congress finds that on July 12, 2016, a tribunal of
the Permanent Court of Arbitration found in the arbitration case
between the Philippines and the People's Republic of China under the
United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea that the People's
Republic of China's claims, including those to offshore resources and
``historic rights'', were unlawful, and that the tribunal's ruling is
final and legally binding on both parties.
(b) Sense of Congress.--It is the sense of Congress that--
(1) the United States and the international community
should reject the unlawful claims of the People's Republic of
China within the exclusive economic zone or on the continental
shelf of the Philippines, as well as the maritime claims of the
People's Republic of China beyond a 12-nautical-mile
territorial sea from the islands it claims in the South China
Sea;
(2) the provocative behavior of the People's Republic of
China, including coercing other countries with claims in the
South China Sea and preventing those countries from accessing
offshore resources, undermines peace and stability in the South
China Sea;
(3) the international community should--
(A) support and adhere to the ruling described in
subsection (a) in compliance with international law;
and
(B) take all necessary steps to support the rules-
based international order in the South China Sea; and
(4) all claimants in the South China Sea should--
(A) refrain from engaging in destabilizing
activities, including illegal occupation or efforts to
unlawfully assert control over disputed claims;
(B) ensure that disputes are managed without
intimidation, coercion, or force;
(C) clarify or adjust claims in accordance with
international law; and
(D) uphold the principle that territorial and
maritime claims, including over territorial waters or
territorial seas, must be derived from land features
and otherwise comport with international law.
SEC. 5. REPORT ON COUNTRIES THAT RECOGNIZE CHINESE SOVEREIGNTY OVER THE
SOUTH CHINA SEA OR THE EAST CHINA SEA.
(a) In General.--Not later than 60 days after the date of the
enactment of this Act, and annually thereafter until the date that is 3
years after such date of enactment, the Secretary of State shall submit
to the Committee on Foreign Relations of the Senate and the Committee
on Foreign Affairs of the House of Representatives a report identifying
each country that the Secretary determines has taken an official and
stated position to recognize, after such date of enactment, the
sovereignty of the People's Republic of China over territory or
airspace disputed by one or more countries in the South China Sea or
the territory or airspace of areas of the East China Sea administered
by Japan or the Republic of Korea.
(b) Form.--The report required by subsection (a) shall be submitted
in unclassified form, but may include a classified annex if the
Secretary of State determines it is necessary for the national security
interests of the United States to do so.
(c) Public Availability.--The Secretary of State shall publish the
unclassified part of the report required by subsection (a) on a
publicly available website of the Department of State.
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