A bipartisan pair of senators is introducing a bill that would let the U.S. sanction countries that support the Chinese Maritime Militia — one of Beijing’s tools for “gray zone” operations, or those that fall below the threshold of war.
The legislation comes from Sen. Tim Kaine, D-Va., and Mitt Romney, R-Ut., who is retiring in January. It’s modeled after an amendment Romney proposed to Congress’ annual defense policy bill — the National Defense Authorization Act — which still hasn’t passed with lawmakers caught in an election-year morass.
The bill would give any administration the authority to put financial penalties on outside backers of the maritime militia, ostensibly a fleet of commercial fishing vessels but one that is trained by, and often operates alongside, China’s military.
A decade ago, the group helped China take control over Scarborough Shoal, a disputed feature in the South China Sea. It’s also harassed American naval ships before.
A 2021 report from the Center for Strategic and International Studies found that the maritime militia includes around 300 vessels operating around the Spratly Islands, which also sit in the South China Sea, every day. Their goal is mainly to enforce China’s expansive claims over the area, denying access to other countries that also assert sovereignty there.
Such behavior from the Chinese Coast Guard, another part of Beijing’s fleet, has flared up this year around Second Thomas Shoal and other features in the sea, where Chinese ships have intercepted, rammed or seized resupply missions from the Philippines to sailors stationed in the area.
This summer, president of the Philippines Ferdinand Marcos Jr. said that the death of a Filipino sailor in such a clash would approach an “act of war” from China, which could potentially drag the U.S. into the conflict, given its defense treaty with Manila.
A Republican congressional aide likened the new bill to preventative care. After Russia’s 2022 invasion of Ukraine, the U.S. rushed to tighten sanctions on Moscow in an effort to punish and eventually degrade the war effort. Those sanctions have since expanded to other supportive countries, a network that has broadened as Iran, North Korea and China increasingly back Russia’s military or defense industry.
Were a conflict in the western Pacific to break out, the Senators don’t want the administration to lack authority to punish such behavior.
“By providing the necessary authority to sanction the entities that provide support to this militia fleet, Congress can equip the administration with a tool to send a message that the United States will not allow China’s increased aggression in the region to go unchecked,” Romney said in a statement.
The aide said that the administration did not specifically request the authority, and noted that its use is entirely up to the discretion of the administration.
China’s gray zone activity has been a consistent challenge for the U.S. and its partners in the region, who either don’t have a large enough coast guard or navy to respond or don’t know how to do so without appearing to overreact.
“Ensuring freedom of navigation is critical to our national security, the security of our allies and the global economy. But over the past decade, the People’s Republic of China has sought to extend its control in the South China Sea by expanding its maritime militia,” Kaine said in a statement, explaining his rationale for the bill.
Noah Robertson is the Pentagon reporter at Defense News. He previously covered national security for the Christian Science Monitor. He holds a bachelor’s degree in English and government from the College of William & Mary in his hometown of Williamsburg, Virginia.
