Sec. 202. United States commitment and support for allies and partners in the Indo-Pacific
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It is the sense of Congress that— the United States treaty alliances in the Indo-Pacific provide a unique strategic advantage to the United States and are among the Nation’s most precious assets, enabling the United States to advance its vital national interests, defend its territory, expand its economy through international trade and commerce, establish enduring cooperation with allies while seeking to establish new partnerships, prevent the domination of the Indo-Pacific and its surrounding maritime and air lanes by a hostile power or powers, and deter potential aggressors; the Governments of the United States, Japan, South Korea, Australia, the Philippines, and Thailand are critical allies in advancing a free and open order in the Indo-Pacific region and tackling challenges with unity of purpose, and have collaborated to advance specific efforts of shared interest in areas such as defense and security, economic prosperity, infrastructure connectivity, and fundamental freedoms; the United States greatly values other partnerships in the Indo-Pacific region, including with India, Singapore, Indonesia, Taiwan, New Zealand, and Vietnam, as well as its trilateral and quadrilateral dialogues, and regional architecture such as the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN), and the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation, which are essential to further shared interests; the security environment in the Indo-Pacific demands consistent United States and allied commitment to strengthening and advancing alliances so that they are postured to meet these challenges, and will require sustained political will, concrete partnerships, economic, commercial, technological, and security cooperation, consistent and tangible commitments, high-level and extensive consultations on matters of mutual interest, mutual and shared cooperation in the acquisition of key capabilities important to allied defenses, and unified mutual support in the face of political, economic, or military coercion; fissures in the United States alliance relationships and partnerships benefit United States adversaries and weaken the collective ability to advance shared interests; the United States must work with allies to prioritize human rights throughout the Indo-Pacific region; as the report released in August 2020 by the Expert Group of the International Military Council on Climate and Security (IMCCS), entitled Climate and Security in the Indo-Asia Pacific noted, the Indo-Pacific region is one of the regions most vulnerable to climate impacts, and as former Deputy Under Secretary of Defense for Installations and Environment Sherri Goodman, Secretary General of IMCCS, noted, climate shocks act as a threat multiplier in the Indo-Pacific region, increasing humanitarian response costs and impacting security throughout the region as sea levels rise, fishing patterns shift, food insecurity rises, and storms grow stronger and more frequent; the United State should continue to engage on and deepen cooperation with allies and partners of the United States in the Indo-Pacific region, as laid out in the Asia Reassurance Initiative Act ( Public Law 115–409 ), in the areas of— forecasting environmental challenges; assisting with transnational cooperation on sustainable uses of forest and water resources with the goal of preserving biodiversity and access to safe drinking water; fisheries and marine resource conservation; and meeting environmental challenges and developing resilience; the Secretary of State, in coordination with the Secretary of Defense and the Administrator of the United States Agency for International Development, should facilitate a robust interagency Indo-Pacific climate resiliency and adaptation strategy focusing on internal and external actions needed— to facilitate regional early recovery, risk reduction, and resilience to weather-related impacts on strategic interests of the United States and partners and allies of the United States in the region; and to address humanitarian and food security impacts of weather-related changes in the region; and ASEAN centrality and ASEAN-led mechanisms remain essential to the evolving institutional architecture of the Indo-Pacific region.
It shall be the policy of the United States— to deepen diplomatic, economic, and security cooperation with and among United States allies in the Indo-Pacific, as appropriate, including through diplomatic engagement, regional development, energy security and development, scientific and health partnerships, educational and cultural exchanges, intelligence-sharing, and other diplomatic and defense-related initiatives; to uphold the United States multilateral and bilateral treaty obligations, including— defending Japan consistent with the Treaty of Mutual Cooperation and Security Between the United States of America and Japan, done at Washington, January 19, 1960, and all related and subsequent bilateral security agreements and arrangements concluded on or before the date of enactment of this Act; defending the Republic of Korea consistent with the Mutual Defense Treaty Between the United States and the Republic of Korea, done at Washington, October 1, 1953, and all related and subsequent bilateral security agreements and arrangements concluded on or before the date of enactment of this Act; defending the Philippines consistent with article IV of the Mutual Defense Treaty Between the United States and the Republic of the Philippines, done at Washington, August 30, 1951, and all related and subsequent bilateral security agreements and arrangements concluded on or before the date of enactment of this Act; defending Thailand consistent with the Southeast Asia Collective Defense Treaty ( Manila Pact ), done at Manila, September 8, 1954, understanding thereto the Thanat-Rusk communique of 1962, and all related and subsequent bilateral security agreements and arrangements concluded on or before the date of enactment of this Act; and defending Australia consistent with the Security Treaty Between Australia and the United States of America, done at San Francisco, September 1, 1951, and all related and subsequent bilateral security agreements and arrangements concluded on or before the date of enactment of this Act; to strengthen and deepen the United States’ bilateral and regional partnerships, including with India, Taiwan, ASEAN, and New Zealand; to cooperate with allies and partners to promote human rights across the Indo-Pacific region bilaterally and through regional and multilateral fora and pacts; to strengthen and advance diplomatic, economic, and security cooperation with regional partners, such as Taiwan, Vietnam, Malaysia, Singapore, Indonesia, and India; and to collaborate and cooperate on the sustainable development of the Mekong River Basin, including by providing support for environmental conservation and protection initiatives in the Mekong sub-region and through assistance to Cambodia, Laos, Thailand, and Vietnam, whose governments comprise the Mekong River Commission (MRC).
United States efforts should focus on increasing MRC member countries’ capacity in the sustainable conservation and management of natural resources.
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Sec. 202
United States commitment and support for allies and partners in the Indo-Pacific
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