Opposing the Republic of South Africa's hosting of military exercises with the People's Republic of China and the Russian Federation, and calling on the Biden administration to conduct a thorough review of the United States-South Africa relationship.

IV 118TH CONGRESS 1ST SESSION H. RES. 145 Opposing the Republic of South Africa’s hosting of military exercises with the People’s Republic of China and the Russian Federation, and calling on the Biden administration to conduct a thorough review of the United States-South Africa relationship. IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES FEBRUARY 21, 2023 Mr. JAMES (for himself, Mr. SMITH of New Jersey, Mr. KEAN of New Jersey, Mr. MILLS, Mr. BAIRD, and Mrs. KIM of California) submitted the fol- lowing resolution; which was referred to the Committee on Foreign Af- fairs RESOLUTION Opposing the Republic of South Africa’s hosting of military exercises with the People’s Republic of China and the Russian Federation, and calling on the Biden administra- tion to conduct a thorough review of the United States- South Africa relationship. Whereas the United States and the Republic of South Africa have enjoyed strong bilateral relations since 1994; Whereas the holding of elections with universal suffrage in 1994 marked the effective ending of apartheid in South Africa, the codified, State-enforced system of racial seg- regation and socioeconomic discrimination; VerDate Sep 11 2014 23:52 Feb 21, 2023 Jkt 039200 PO 00000 Frm 00001 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6300 E:\BILLS\HR145.IH HR145 pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with $$_JOB 2 •HRES 145 IH Whereas South Africa is the United States largest trade part- ner in Africa, with $21,000,000,000 of 2-way goods trade in 2021, and in 2012, the countries signed a Trade and Investment Framework Agreement facilitating 2-way trade; Whereas the United States is the largest source of foreign di- rect investment in South Africa, valued at over $7,500,000,000 in 2021, and approximately 600 Amer- ican businesses operate in South Africa; Whereas South Africa’s media landscape has proven resilient to the influence of media entities controlled by the Peo- ple’s Republic of China (PRC); Whereas South Africa has benefitted from the U.S. Africa Contingency Operations Training and Assistance pro- gram since 2006; Whereas the United States and South African militaries have historically undertaken joint military exercises and en- joyed good relations, including South Africa hosting American troops for Exercise ‘‘Shared Accord’’ in 2022, the fourth time they have hosted this exercise since 2011, through historic Department of Defense participation in South Africa’s biennial African Aerospace Defense Exhi- bition, and through the periodic convening of the bilateral U.S.-South Africa Defense Committee; Whereas South Africa declined to participate in the planned ‘‘Cutlass Express’’ military exercises with the United States in 2023; Whereas South Africa often voted in alignment with the PRC within the United Nations General Assembly in 2022, es- pecially in relation to votes condemning Russia’s unjusti- fied and unprovoked invasion of Ukraine; VerDate Sep 11 2014 23:52 Feb 21, 2023 Jkt 039200 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6300 E:\BILLS\HR145.IH HR145 pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with $$_JOB 3 •HRES 145 IH Whereas South Africa reneged on its initial call for the Rus- sian Federation to immediately withdraw its forces from Ukraine and has actively sought improved relations with Moscow in the last year; Whereas South Africa’s ruling party, the African National Congress (ANC) and the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) engage in consistent interparty cooperation in spite of South Africa’s Constitution being opposed to the CCP’s routine suppression of free expression and indi- vidual rights; Whereas the ‘‘United Front’’ work of the CCP has estab- lished at least 3 ‘‘overseas police stations’’ in South Afri- ca, and these police stations, both in South Africa and in many other countries, are reportedly being used to track and harass PRC dissidents; Whereas South Africa hosts 6 Confucius Institutes, the most of any country in Africa, and cooperates with the PRC under the CCP’s Belt and Road Initiative; Whereas, in 2020, South Africa and the PRC established a joint bilateral ‘‘Comprehensive Strategic Partnership’’, and maintain numerous prior and subsequent agree- ments, memorandums of understanding, and similar ac- cords; Whereas South Africa is the PRC’s largest trading partner in Africa, with total trade valued at $54,000,000,000 in 2021, and has accepted $5,000,000,000 in PRC-provided power and transportation sector loans since 2015; Whereas South Africa is scheduled to hold the 15th leaders’ meeting of the informal Brazil, Russia, India, China grouping (BRICS) in August 2023; VerDate Sep 11 2014 23:52 Feb 21, 2023 Jkt 039200 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6300 E:\BILLS\HR145.IH HR145 pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with $$_JOB 4 •HRES 145 IH Whereas the increased Chinese presence in South Africa’s technology sector has raised concerns that the ANC may be trying to copy the PRC’s model of digitally aided au- thoritarian governance underpinned by cyber controls, so- cial monitoring, and surveillance; Whereas Vumacam, a South African company building a na- tionwide CCTV network, has partnered with Chinese company Hikvision for the cameras’ hardware, and Telkom, South Africa’s partially State-owned telecoms operator, launched its 5G network throughout the coun- try in October 2022 using technology from Huawei Tech- nologies; Whereas the ANC has proved incapable of providing elec- tricity to the South African people, through its chronic mismanagement of the State-owned power company Eskom, and on February 9, 2023, President of South Af- rica Cyril Ramaphosa declared a national state of dis- aster over the worsening, multiyear power crisis; Whereas South Africa will host joint maritime exercises, enti- tled ‘‘Operation Mosi II’’, jointly with the PRC and Rus- sia, between February 17 and 24, 2023, and the latter date corresponds to the 1-year anniversary of Russia’s unjustified and unprovoked invasion of Ukraine; Whereas South Africa has used its stated stance of nonalign- ment in international affairs to justify increasingly close relations with the PRC and Russia; Whereas United States policy towards South Africa appears to have failed in building a strong, reliable bilateral part- ner; and Whereas it is in the national security interest of the United States to deter acceptance, cooperation, and strategic in- VerDate Sep 11 2014 23:52 Feb 21, 2023 Jkt 039200 PO 00000 Frm 00004 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6300 E:\BILLS\HR145.IH HR145 pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with $$_JOB 5 •HRES 145 IH formation sharing with the PRC and Russia: Now, there- fore, be it Resolved, That the House of Representatives— 1 (1) opposes South Africa’s decision to host mili- 2 tary exercises with the People’s Republic of China 3 and the Russian Federation from February 17 to 4 February 24, 2023; 5 (2) calls on the Government of South Africa 6 to— 7 (A) cancel all future military exercises with 8 the People’s Republic of China and Russia and 9 rejoin United States-led exercises, such as the 10 ‘‘Cutlass Express’’; 11 (B) respect the United Nations charter 12 and publicly oppose Russia’s unjustified and 13 unprovoked invasion of Ukraine; 14 (C) strengthen its political resilience to re- 15 ject the Chinese Communist Party’s authori- 16 tarian vision for South Africa; and 17 (D) maintain its national sovereignty by 18 reducing its reliance on Chinese companies in 19 key sectors such as information and commu- 20 nication technology; 21 (3) calls on the Biden administration to conduct 22 a thorough review of the current and future status 23 of the United States-South Africa bilateral relation- 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 23:52 Feb 21, 2023 Jkt 039200 PO 00000 Frm 00005 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\HR145.IH HR145 pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with $$_JOB 6 •HRES 145 IH ship in light of the aforementioned actions of the 1 Government of South Africa; and 2 (4) calls on the United States Government to 3 keep Congress apprised by providing regular and 4 comprehensive briefings on subjects relating to 5 South Africa including— 6 (A) a complete account of all known 7 United States-sanctioned entities and 8 transnational criminal organizations’ connec- 9 tions to illicit proceeds linked to wildlife traf- 10 ficking; 11 (B) a detailed account of positive economic 12 results stemming from South Africa’s inclusion 13 in the African Growth and Opportunity Act and 14 the United States-South Africa Trade and In- 15 vestment Framework signed in 2012; and 16 (C) a timeline to end the Biden adminis- 17 tration’s climate colonialism by including gas- 18 to-power initiatives to counter the widespread 19 and nationwide blackouts costing the South Af- 20 rican economy an estimated $200,000,000 per 21 day. 22 Æ VerDate Sep 11 2014 23:52 Feb 21, 2023 Jkt 039200 PO 00000 Frm 00006 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6301 E:\BILLS\HR145.IH HR145 pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with $$_JOB