[Congressional Bills 118th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[S. Res. 75 Introduced in Senate (IS)]
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118th CONGRESS
1st Session
S. RES. 75
Reaffirming the state of Arunachal Pradesh as Indian territory and
condemning the People's Republic of China's provocations in South Asia.
_______________________________________________________________________
IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES
February 16, 2023
Mr. Merkley (for himself, Mr. Hagerty, and Mr. Cornyn) submitted the
following resolution; which was referred to the Committee on Foreign
Relations
_______________________________________________________________________
RESOLUTION
Reaffirming the state of Arunachal Pradesh as Indian territory and
condemning the People's Republic of China's provocations in South Asia.
Whereas, since the Sino-Indian war of 1962, the United States has recognized the
McMahon Line as the international boundary between the People's Republic
of China and the Indian state of Arunachal Pradesh;
Whereas the United States recognizes the state of Arunachal Pradesh not as
disputed territory but as an integral part of the Republic of India, and
this recognition is not qualified in any way;
Whereas the Government of the People's Republic of China claims Arunachal
Pradesh as its own territory, which it calls ``South Tibet'', and has
invoked these claims as part of its increasingly aggressive and
expansionist policies;
Whereas, in December 2021, the People's Republic of China's Ministry of Civil
Affairs published a detailed map of the Indian state of Arunachal
Pradesh which assigned Mandarin-language names to 15 geographic
features, including eight residential settlements, four mountain peaks,
two rivers, and one mountain pass, as well as the names of the
administrative regions where each of these are located;
Whereas, in December 2022, People's Republic of China and Indian troops engaged
in a skirmish in Arunachal Pradesh along the Line of Actual Control, the
biggest clash in the Eastern Sector in six years;
Whereas the People's Liberation Army engaged in provocative moves in the Western
Sector along the Line of Actual Control starting in April 2020,
including increasing troop deployments, building new infrastructure in
contested areas, and harassing Indian patrols, particularly around the
Depsang Plains, Galwan Valley, Hot Springs, and Pangong Lake;
Whereas these provocations by the People's Republic of China upended then-
improving India-China relations and ultimately led to the Galwan Valley
clash in June 2020, which resulted in the death of 20 Indian soldiers;
Whereas the People's Republic of China has constructed two Chinese villages
close to the Line of Actual Control near Arunachal Pradesh and expanded
its territorial claims in Bhutanese territory in the Eastern Sector;
Whereas Arunachal Pradesh contains the Buddhist town of Tawang, home to the
revered Tawang Monastery and is the birthplace of the sixth Dalai Lama,
Tsangyang Gyatso;
Whereas the People's Republic of China has raised diplomatic objections to
visits to Arunachal Pradesh by the Dalai Lama and other leaders and has
refused to grant residents of the Indian state visas for travel to
China;
Whereas the provocations by the People's Republic of China impede poverty
alleviation and economic development in Arunachal Pradesh, where nearly
25 percent of the population lives in multidimensional poverty according
to India's 2021 National Multidimensional Poverty Index, leading many
international donors to be cautious of providing assistance due to the
state's perceived status as disputed territory;
Whereas the Government of India has increased its funding for border
infrastructure to improve accessibility in Arunachal Pradesh, as well as
for village infrastructure, housing, tourist centers, road connectivity,
and decentralized renewable energy production through India's Vibrant
Villages program;
Whereas the Government of India has taken steps to defend itself from aggression
and security threats from the People's Republic of China, including
through securing its telecommunications infrastructure and conducting
investment screening;
Whereas it is in the interest of the United States to work both bilaterally with
India through our Comprehensive Global Strategic Partnership, as well as
multilaterally through the Quad with Japan and Australia, and through
the I2U2 with Israel and the United Arab Emirates;
Whereas there is significant and continuing progress in the U.S.-India Major
Defense Partnership, including ambitions for building an advanced and
comprehensive defense partnership in which the Armed Forces of the
United States and India coordinate across all domains; and
Whereas the Government of India is playing a significant leadership role on the
global stage, including as part of its G20 presidency in 2023: Now,
therefore, be it
Resolved, That the Senate--
(1) unequivocally recognizes the state of Arunachal Pradesh
as an integral part of the Republic of India and supports the
country's sovereignty and territorial integrity;
(2) condemns the People's Republic of China's use of
military force to change the status quo along the Line of
Actual Control, as well as additional provocations including
the construction of villages in contested areas, expansion of
territorial claims in Bhutan, and publication of maps assigning
Mandarin-language names to cities and features in the Indian
state of Arunachal Pradesh;
(3) commends the Government of India for taking steps to
defend itself against aggression and security threats from the
People's Republic of China, including through securing its
telecommunications infrastructure, examining its procurement
processes and supply chains, implementing investment screening
standards, and expanding its cooperation with Taiwan in public
health and other sectors;
(4) supports, as part of a joint vision for a free and open
Indo-Pacific, India's continued defense modernization,
including its diversification away from countries that fail to
respect the sovereignty and territorial integrity of other
nations;
(5) applauds the Government of India for increasing its
development efforts in Arunachal Pradesh, including for
improving border infrastructure, connectivity, and energy
security, including renewable energy production;
(6) commits to deepening United States assistance to the
region, including through the Department of State and the
United States Agency for International Development using
funding mechanisms such as the Countering PRC Influence Fund;
(7) encourages like-minded international partners and
donors to likewise bolster their assistance efforts to
Arunachal Pradesh;
(8) supports further strengthening the United States-India
bilateral partnership, including through enhanced defense
interoperability and information-sharing especially for early
warning systems, the United States-India Initiative on Critical
and Emerging Technology, further economic cooperation, and our
broad and long-standing people-to-people ties; and
(9) promotes enhancing our multilateral cooperation with
India through the Quad, the East Asia Summit alongside our
partners in the Association for Southeast Asian Nations, and
other international fora.
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