US Senate bill proposes sanctions for involvement in illegal activities in South and East China seas

• The legislation reiterates America’s commitment to holding the Chinese government accountable for bullying and coercing other nations in the region
• The act would allow the seizure of US-based assets of those developing projects in areas contested by Asean members

Owen Churchill

Ships from four nations – the Philippines, US, Japan and India – sail together in the South China Sea during a training exercise on May 9. 

US senators from both political parties will reintroduce legislation on Thursday committing the government to punish Chinese individuals and entities involved in Beijing’s illegal and dangerous activities in the South and East China seas.
If it becomes law, the “South China Sea and East China Sea Sanctions Act” would require the government to seize US-based financial assets and revoke or deny US visas of anyone engaged in “actions or policies that threaten the peace, security or stability” of areas in the South China Sea that are contested by one or more members of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (Asean).
“This bipartisan bill strengthens efforts by the US and our allies to counter Beijing’s illegal and dangerous militarisation of disputed territory that it has seized in the South China Sea,” Senator Marco Rubio, a Republican who is leading the legislation with Democratic Senator Benjamin Cardin, told the South China Morning Post.
“This legislation reiterates America’s commitment to keeping the region free and open for all countries, and to holding the Chinese government accountable for bullying and coercing other nations in the region.”
The bill would require the US secretary of state to provide Congress with a report every six months identifying any Chinese person or company involved in construction or development projects in areas in the South China Sea contested by Asean members. 

Activities targeted by the bill include land reclamation, the making of islands, lighthouse construction and the building of mobile communication infrastructure.
Those who are complicit or engaged in activities that threaten the “peace, security, or stability” of those regions or areas of the East China Sea administered by Japan or the Republic of Korea would also be subject to sanctions, the bill says.

The legislation was previously introduced in 2017 but never moved from the Foreign Relations Committee to the full Senate, which, along with the House of Representatives, must approve a bill before it goes to the president to be signed into law.
Those supporting the new bill are hoping for a different outcome this time, with some drawing confidence from a new Foreign Relations Committee chairman – Senator James Risch – who has made scrutiny of Beijing’s policies and practices a staple of his tenure since taking over from fellow Republican Bob Corker in January.
“We’re very optimistic, given chairman Risch’s interest in China issues,” a spokeswoman for Rubio said on Wednesday, adding that there would be no difference in language between Thursday’s version of the bill and the one introduced in 2017.
Also bolstering hopes that the legislation will progress is rising hawkishness towards Beijing among lawmakers in both houses of Congress and on both sides of the political aisle.
Across a broad range of matters, including national security, trade and intellectual property, the administration’s position on China has won support from even the most ardent critics of US President Donald Trump. 

Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, for instance, has applauded Trump’s waging of a costly trade war with Beijing, including his escalating use of tariffs.
In a possible indicator of increased support for congressional resistance to Beijing, the current bill is co-sponsored by 13 Democratic and Republican senators, a significant increase from the two who signed on to the 2017 legislation.

Bonnie Glaser of the Centre for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS), a think tank in Washington, said it was “right that we now have a very harsh atmosphere in the Congress when it comes to China,” but predicted that the “obligatory, binding language” of the legislation would have to be toned down for it to make its way to the president’s desk.
“I think most administrations tend to baulk at Congress having that much say over foreign policy,” said Glaser, a senior adviser for Asia and specialist in China’s foreign and security policy at CSIS. 

“If it ever gets support within the Senate, there’ll probably have to be a compromise with the House. My guess is that it would not ultimately be passed in this form.”

Marco Rubio says the new bill will strengthen efforts to counter Beijing’s illegal and dangerous militarisation of disputed territory in the South China Sea. 

But it was “important to have this discussion and debate,” said Glaser, who noted that the South China Sea had not been on the “front burner” of the Trump administration’s policy agenda. 

“And so introducing it in Congress might not be a bad idea.”
Reintroducing the legislation had been on Rubio’s radar for about a month, said the senator’s spokeswoman, though it had become “very timely” given the US Navy’s recent “freedom of navigation operations” (FONOPs) in the region, each of which has elicited firm resistance from Beijing and, in some cases, close encounters with Chinese naval vessels.
After a US destroyer sailed within 12 nautical miles of the disputed Scarborough Shoal on Sunday, the second of such FONOPs in a month, Beijing said the ship’s actions had “violated China’s sovereignty and undermined the peace, security and good order in the relevant sea areas”.
The Trump administration has done a much better job at conducting regular and frequent FONOPs than previous administrations, said Glaser, adding that the US government had been successful in encouraging other stakeholders in the region to engage in joint cruises and exercises.
Earlier this month, for instance, the US conducted naval drills with India, Japan and the Philippines, a joint show of force that Glaser characterised as “unusual”, adding she was “glad to see [it]”.

The Chinese warship Linyi took part in six days of joint naval exercises with Russian vessels in the East China Sea. 

The Manchurian President

Senators to Trump: Show Resolve with Beijing in South China Sea
BY DAN DE LUCE

Senators from both sides of the aisle wrote to Donald Trump on Wednesday urging him to take a tougher line with Beijing in the South China Sea, calling for more U.S. naval patrols to uphold navigation rights in the disputed waterway.
The appeal, backed by three Republicans and four Democrats, reflects growing concern in Congress that the Trump administration could be ceding strategic ground to China.
The letter obtained by Foreign Policy expresses concern that the United States had not carried out patrols upholding “freedom of navigation” in the strategic South China Sea since October 2016. 

Last year, Pentagon officials privately complained that the Obama administration limited its ability to patrol the disputed waters; Rex Tillerson initially promised a much tougher line against Chinese antics in the South China Sea, but none has yet materialized.
“We therefore urge your administration to take necessary steps to routinely exercise freedom of navigation and overflight in the South China Sea, which is critical to U.S. national security interests and to peace and prosperity in the Asia-Pacific region,” the letter said.
The administration has so far rebuffed requests from the U.S. Pacific Command to conduct freedom of navigation operations in the South China Sea, congressional staffers and Pentagon officials say, despite earlier vows by Trump and his aides to assert American interests against China.
The U.S. Navy routinely sails through international waters to assert the principle of freedom of navigation, even pushing back against excessive claims by allies, if needed. 

But the patrols have taken on added political weight in the contested South China Sea, where tensions are running high because of Beijing’s vast island-building campaign and its expansionist territorial claims.
Given mixed signals from an erratic White House, the lawmakers wanted to send a message that there was a “bipartisan center of gravity” on the issue, a Democratic congressional aide told FP.
The senators were trying “to provide ballast for the administration as it engages in the region,” the aide said, adding: “We thought it was important to weigh in and also to try to help shake things loose in the administration on this.”
The letter cites a series of “aggressive” and “troubling” actions by China in the waterway, including building artificial islands on disputed reefs, ramming commercial fishing boats, and issuing warnings to aircraft and ships in international airspace and waters.
“All of these measures raise serious questions about China’s commitment to regional security, the free flow of commerce, and freedom of navigation and overflight,” it said.
In an elaborate dredging operation, China has built up a network of artificial islands on disputed reefs and atolls in recent years, constructing runways and deep harbors that can accommodate military aircraft, naval warships, and missile launchers.
Commercial satellite images published this week showed China is preparing new land-based missile sites at a naval base at the tip of Hainan Island in the South China Sea. 

The Chinese military reportedly has deployed multiple anti-ship missile launchers on the western side of the base, and the satellite photos indicated it was making preparations for missile sites on the eastern side of the base. 

The work at the forward base would help China project its military power at a much greater distance into the western Pacific.
The letter was signed by Sen. Bob Corker (R-Tenn.), the Republican chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee; Sen. Marco Rubio (R-Fla.); Sen. Cory Gardner (R-Colo.); Sen. Benjamin Cardin (D-Md.), the ranking Democrat on the Foreign Relations Committee; Sen. Jack Reed (D-R.I.); Sen. Edward Markey (D-Mass.); and Sen. Brian Schatz (D-Hawaii).
A bipartisan group of senators sent a similar letter to the previous administration last year, urging — unsuccessfully — then-President Barack Obama to expand naval patrols in the South China Sea. But Obama’s deputies were reluctant to jeopardize cooperation with China on climate change and other issues.

Stand Up for Democracy in Hong Kong

By JOSHUA WONG and JEFFREY NGO

Protesting against Carrie Lam after she declared her victory in the chief executive election of Hong Kong in March.

HONG KONG — The selection in March of the Beijing loyalist Carrie Lam as Hong Kong’s next leader is the latest sign that China will continue to tighten its grip on this city.
Political divisions will deepen and mistrust of the government will rise.
Ms. Lam, who was picked to be chief executive by an election committee stacked in Beijing’s favor, has long taken a hard-line approach to suppressing dissent.
As the former No. 2 official under the unpopular outgoing leader, Leung Chun-ying, she presided over the political reform process that ignited the Umbrella Movement of 2014, in which tens of thousands of Hong Kongers occupied major thoroughfares for three months demanding democratic rights.
With Hong Kong’s autonomy plummeting to a 20-year low, it’s more important than ever for Washington to affirm its commitment to freedom in Hong Kong.
The Hong Kong Human Rights and Democracy Act, introduced by a bipartisan group of senators in February, would put the Hong Kong people’s rights at the center of United States policy toward the semiautonomous Chinese territory.
The legislation, an update to a 1992 law governing relations between the United States and Hong Kong, would authorize the president to freeze United States-based assets of individuals who have suppressed freedoms in Hong Kong and deny them entry to America, require the secretary of state to issue an annual report on Hong Kong’s political situation until at least 2023 and guarantee that Hong Kongers who have participated in nonviolent assembly would not be denied American visas on the basis of their arrest.
Our freedoms in Hong Kong have been increasingly squeezed since 2014, when the Chinese leadership in Beijing decided against democratizing the process for selecting our leader, inciting the months of protests.
A renowned legal scholar and former law school dean at Hong Kong University was denied a promotion to a top leadership post at the university because of his pro-democracy positions.
Five Hong Kongers working for a bookseller that sold books critical of Beijing were abducted and taken across the border to China, where one was coerced into confessing to crimes on national television.
Democratically elected lawmakers in the opposition camp have been facing costly lawsuits filed by the government to disqualify their seats.
Democracy activists have been rounded up for leading protests against the government.
Beijing’s fear of separatism and Xi Jinping’s uncompromising leadership style mean the situation is likely to get worse before it gets better.
The Hong Kong Human Rights and Democracy Act would put much-needed pressure on American presidents to stand up to Beijing for its aggression against the people of this territory.
No United States president has visited Hong Kong since Bill Clinton in 1998.
The State Department stopped issuing periodic assessments of Hong Kong’s political situation in 2007. 
Barack Obama showed only tepid support for the Hong Kong democracy movement.
Trump hasn’t spoken much yet about Hong Kong, but his China policy has been disappointing. 
He showed some early signs of hope when, as president-elect, he seemed willing to challenge the unjust “One China” policy on Taiwan, but he has since backed off from his tough talk against Beijing.
Congress should do its part to renew White House interest in Hong Kong, sending a message that the United States is concerned about our political freedom.
Hong Kong, in spite of all the difficulties it is facing, remains the freest territory under Chinese control.
For dissidents in the mainland, Hong Kong’s social movements have long been sources of hope. Safeguarding what has made Hong Kong unique is in Washington’s interest, especially if Americans wish to someday see a free and democratic China.
The Hong Kong Human Rights and Democracy Act — recently introduced in the Senate by Republican Senators Marco Rubio and Tom Cotton, along with Democratic Senator Benjamin Cardin — has received bipartisan backing at this early stage.
American conservatives and liberals alike should support the bill and help uphold their shared values of freedom and democracy for this corner of the world.

The Magnitsky Act : Trump has the power to fight China on human rights. Will he use it?

President Trump inherits law originally aimed at Russia that allows him to sanction any official involved in violations – and China activists have put forward a list.

By Benjamin Haas in Hong Kong

The human rights lawyer Chen Guangcheng was one of the Chinese government’s high-profile targets. 

As Donald Trump enters the White House, human rights campaigners around the world fear his administration will drop support for global struggles for democracy and freedom. 

But his administration is armed with a new law unprecedented in US history: the ability to sanction any individual involved in human rights abuses.
Now a newly formed NGO is hoping to push the US to sanction a slew of Chinese names, focusing on prosecutors and police who handle cases of prominent human rights activists. 

Potential punishments including travel bans, freezing assets and seizing property.
“There is well documented evidence that Chinese officials routinely commit gross violations of human rights against dissidents and human rights defenders,” said Senator Benjamin Cardin, the sponsor of the law. 

“Those officials responsible for such violations should be investigated under the act.”
The Magnitsky Act was first passed in 2012 but until December 2016 it only applied to Russia. 

It is named after the Russian lawyer Sergei Magnitsky, who was accused officials of stealing state funds and subsequently died in custody.
It was used this month to blacklist five Russian officials including Alexander Bastrykin, the powerful head of Russia’s investigative committee who reports directly to Vladimir Putin.
With its global expansion in December a group of veteran China activists established the China Human Rights Accountability Center with the singular goal of collecting evidence to mount cases under the Magnitsky Act.
“China’s human rights record is the worst in the world, surely in terms of scale, and this law sends a strong and clear message to Chinese officials,” said Teng Biao, one of the founders and a visiting fellow at New York University. 

“Being sanctioned would be a huge embarrassment and a confirmation of the suffering inflicted by so many.”
While convincing the US government to publicly sanction Chinese officials may be an uphill battle, the law specifically says the president will consider “information obtained by … nongovernmental organisations”.
The state department will submit a report to Congress sometime in April with a list of names. 

Even if the activists fail in having all of them sanctioned, they plan to put the detailed evidence on their website for the public to see.
“The name of the game is to scare, shame and embarrass officials who violate human rights,” said Yaxue Cao, another founder and editor of the human rights website ChinaChange.org.
The group is preparing to submit evidence for at least three names so far, including Jia Lianchun, a judge who presided over the trials of three prominent human rights activists including the Nobel Peace Prize laureate Liu Xiaobo. 

Liu was jailed for 11 years.
The others are Xia Baolong, who led a campaign against Christian groups as the Communist party boss of Zhejiang province; and Li Qun, who put the blind human rights lawyer Chen Guangcheng under house arrest. 

Chen is also a founding member of the accountability centre.
Other potential targets for the NGO are the police and prosecutors who handled the case of Cao Shunli, a rights lawyer who died in 2014 – like Magnitsky, in police custody. 

The centre also plans to investigate the officials who prosecuted Ilham Tohti, an economics professor and member of the Uighur minority who was jailed for life and later given the prestigious Martin Ennals award.
“In the past the US criticised and we expressed our values but we really haven’t had any very effective tools to influence China,” said Susan Shirk, a former US deputy assistant secretary of state. “It was a very frustrating situation to feel that we don’t have the tools to really have much impact in these types of cases.”
Shirk, who is now the chair of the 21st Century China Centre at the University of California San Diego, pointed to US citizens held in China and often denied due process as a group that could benefit from the Magnitsky Act.
One prominent case is that of Sandy Phan-Gillis, an American who was charged with spying after being held for over a year and is believed to have been tortured, with the UN saying her detention is a violation of international law.
Many human rights activists in China and around the world are worried that Trump’s presidency will mean less focus on human rights but members of Congress have made clear it is still a foreign policy priority.
“We look forward to working with the new administration to make sure that the law is carried out in full, and without fear or favour,” Cardin said.
“We expect that the administration will take the necessary actions to implement the law and we in Congress will do our job of oversight to make sure that that is the case.”
Members of the centre say they hope professional diplomats will still push these causes, with Cao saying: “Trump can’t control everyone and there are many in the state department passionate about human rights.
“Trump has said he wants to restart, rethink and remap China-US relations, and he will put human rights into play because that’s something he can use in negotiations.
“Considering how bad China’s human rights record is, if no Chinese officials are on the list then that will stink for Trump’s administration.”
While most of the NGO’s founding members are based in the US, Hu Jia, having been denied a passport for years, remains in Beijing and could bear the brunt of any government reprisals.
“This is very dangerous work, but ever since I started doing human rights work I was more concerned for my family’s wellbeing than my own,” Hu said. 

“I’m the man of action on the ground and I hope I can help bring this law to life, give it power and have it make an impact.”
Police have been stationed outside Hu’s home for more than a decade beginning in 2004, even keeping watch over his wife and daughter while he was in prison for three and a half years. 

But Hu feels more at ease that only he will bear the brunt of any government reprisal now that his ex-wife and daughter are living in Hong Kong.
Hu said Australia, Canada and European countries should follow America’s lead and enact similar legislation, grasping a unique opportunity to make an impact.
“On the surface all these officials are very patriotic but in reality they’ve all stashed their money in the US,” Hu said.