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Washington, D.C. – U.S. Senators Marco Rubio (R-FL), member of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, and Tom Cotton (R-AR) today introduced a Senate joint resolution disapproving the U.S.-China Nuclear Cooperation Agreement President Obama submitted to Congress in April.
 
“Even as this Administration’s disregard for longstanding U.S. nonproliferation norms has reached a new level with their flawed deal with Iran, I find it unbelievable that the Obama Administration has submitted a new nuclear cooperation agreement with China to Congress given recent Chinese behavior,” said Rubio. “Congress established guidelines for U.S. nuclear cooperation policy to prevent proliferation, not encourage it. In recent decades, while the United States has conducted nuclear cooperation with China, Chinese entities have continued to proliferate sensitive military technology to Iran and North Korea and assisted Pakistan’s nuclear program. Simultaneously, the Chinese government has tested the boundaries of our relationship by conducting devastating cyberattacks against American businesses and U.S. government agencies.
 
“During congressional review of this agreement, serious questions have been raised about China’s compliance with the existing nuclear cooperation agreement and Beijing’s intentions to violate the agreement now before Congress,” Rubio added. “The stakes are too high for us to continue a business-as-usual approach to China by letting this agreement enter into force. The Senate must act to ensure President Obama is not given another opportunity to weaken our national security and put America and our allies at risk.”
 
“Given China’s belligerence in the South China Sea, relentless cyber-attacks against the U.S. and U.S. companies, and unwillingness to stop known proliferators, it is unconscionable that they’re rewarded with a new Nuclear Cooperation Agreement,” Cotton said. “This agreement erodes the advantage our Navy has over the Chinese Navy and ultimately puts U.S. Sailors and Marines at a greater risk in a confrontation scenario. President Obama should withdraw the agreement until China ceases its cyber-attacks and arrests known proliferations.”
 
The current U.S.-China Nuclear Cooperation Agreement is set to expire on December 31, 2015. Without Senate action, the new agreement submitted by President Obama in April will enter into force later this month.
 
A PDF of the resolution is available here.