BOISE, Idaho – U.S. Senator Jim Risch (R-Idaho), chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, today released the following statement on recent Trump Administration actions to impose visa restrictions on individuals involved in the People’s Republic of China’s (PRC) illegal activities in the South China Sea and to add PRC companies that support these activities to the Department of Commerce’s Entities List:
“The Trump Administration is right to impose visa restrictions on individuals involved in the PRC’s illegal activities in the South China Sea and to add PRC companies that support these activities to the Department of Commerce’s Entities List. In 2015, Xi Jinping went to the White House and promised President Obama that he would not militarize the South China Sea. Chairman Xi soon broke this promise, and many more. In the years since, China has accelerated its aggressive campaign of land reclamation in the South China Sea, militarizing manmade islands in contested waters as a platform for coercing its neighbors and asserting its excessive maritime claims.
“It is crucial that U.S. investors and businesses are aware that PRC companies involved in the militarization of the South China Sea maintain a presence in our capital markets. My STRATEGIC Act calls for an annual report on all PRC companies with a presence in U.S. capital markets that conduct activities that threaten U.S. national security or suppress human rights. The STRATEGIC Act also proposes significant increases in maritime security and law enforcement assistance to support our allies and partners in the Indo-Pacific region. We cannot afford to delay on these policies any longer.”
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