As Introduced
135th General Assembly
Regular Session S. R. No. 241
2023-2024
Senator Johnson
Cosponsors: Senators Brenner, Cirino, Dolan, Lang, Reynolds, Romanchuk,
Schaffer, Schuring
A RESOLUTION
To condemn the People's Republic of China and the 1
Chinese Communist Party for conducting 2
unrestricted warfare against the world, and 3
especially against the United States, and for the 4
systematic, brutal oppression of its own people. 5
BE IT RESOLVED BY THE SENATE OF THE STATE OF OHIO:
WHEREAS, There have been over 200 reported instances of 6
Chinese espionage directed at the United States since 2000, many 7
cases involving attempts to smuggle controlled items from the 8
United States to China, usually munitions or controlled 9
technologies, and more than 1,200 cases of intellectual property 10
theft lawsuits brought by United States companies against 11
Chinese entities; and 12
WHEREAS, In the years immediately before 2019, China was 13
the primary source of United States-bound illicit fentanyl, 14
fentanyl-related substances, and production equipment. The 15
People's Republic of China's (PRC) traffickers supplied fentanyl 16
and fentanyl-related substances directly to the United States 17
via international mail and express consignment operations; and 18
WHEREAS, To the extent that the PRC is involved directly in 19
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As Introduced
enabling the global drug trade, the PRC does so as a means of 20
facilitating destabilization and division in the United States 21
and across the region more broadly; and 22
WHEREAS, The PRC failed to keep the COVID-19 virus from 23
spreading, and was less than forthcoming with respect to 24
information about the virus; and 25
WHEREAS, The United States Department of Energy has 26
assessed that the COVID-19 pandemic most likely came from a 27
laboratory leak in Wuhan, China; and 28
WHEREAS, The PRC's strict COVID-19 policy resulted in 29
unpredictable lockdowns, idle ports, and congested 30
infrastructure, contributing greatly to the global supply chain 31
crisis; and 32
WHEREAS, Despite claims of international environmental 33
leadership, the PRC's energy-related carbon dioxide emissions 34
are rising. It has been the world's largest annual greenhouse 35
gas emitter since 2006, with total energy-related emissions 36
twice that of the United States and nearly one-third of all 37
emissions globally; and 38
WHEREAS, The PRC has arbitrarily detained more than one 39
million Uyghurs and other mostly Muslim minorities in China's 40
far western Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region; and 41
WHEREAS, It is estimated that 100,000 Uyghurs and other 42
ethnic minority ex-detainees in China may be working in 43
conditions of forced labor following detention in reeducation 44
camps, and many more rural poor workers also experience coercion 45
without detention; and 46
WHEREAS, The PRC has been included on the List of Goods 47
Produced by Child Labor or Forced Labor since 2009; and 48
WHEREAS, The final judgment of the Independent Tribunal 49
into Forced Organ Harvesting from Prisoners of Conscience in 50
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As Introduced
China Tribunal, published in March 2020, concluded that forced 51
organ harvesting from prisoners of conscience has been practiced 52
for a substantial period of time involving a very substantial 53
number of victims; and 54
WHEREAS, Chinese espionage is undertaken in pursuit of 55
China's strategic objectives; and 56
WHEREAS, The PRC has imposed a sweeping national security 57
law on Hong Kong, limiting freedoms of the press and speech, and 58
arresting pro-democracy activists, lawmakers, and journalists, 59
raising questions about Hong Kong's status as a global financial 60
hub; and 61
WHEREAS, The PRC has employed a variety of coercive tactics 62
to intimidate Taiwan; and 63
WHEREAS, The PRC has increased the frequency and scale of 64
patrols of PLA bombers, fighter jets, and surveillance aircraft 65
over and around Taiwan, and also has increasingly sailed its 66
warships and aircraft carriers through the Taiwan Strait in 67
shows of force; and 68
WHEREAS, Taiwan has reported that thousands of cyber 69
attacks from the PRC target its government agencies every day; 70
and 71
WHEREAS, The PRC regularly is accused of state-organized 72
economic espionage and theft of intellectual property; and 73
WHEREAS, The PRC is upgrading its offensive nuclear 74
ballistics, airborne, subsurface, and intercontinental ballistic 75
missiles (ICBM). It is reported that the PRC is constructing as 76
many as 200 ICBM sites in West China; and 77
WHEREAS, Across much of the Indo-Pacific region, the 78
Chinese Communist Party (CCP) is using military and economic 79
coercion to bully its neighbors, advance unlawful maritime 80
claims, and threaten maritime shipping lanes; and 81
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WHEREAS, The PRC, in direct contravention of international 82
law, and ignoring a recent decision of the Permanent Court of 83
Arbitration in the Hague, has fabricated phony islands in the 84
South China Sea and elsewhere, and has militarized them, thus 85
making false claims to vast ocean territories clearly not their 86
own; and 87
WHEREAS, Support from the PRC is critical to Russia's 88
ability to continue waging its war against Ukraine. A report 89
from the Office of the Director of National Intelligence has 90
outlined how a range of actors, including the Chinese 91
government, the CCP, state-owned Chinese companies, and other 92
Chinese entities, are supporting Russia's economy and its 93
military; and 94
WHEREAS, The PRC incorporates a network of monitoring 95
systems to monitor Chinese citizens, including internet 96
surveillance, camera surveillance, and other digital 97
technologies; and 98
WHEREAS, Under a 2016 cybersecurity law, the PRC, with the 99
help of corporations, has significantly increased mass 100
surveillance. It is estimated that 200 million monitoring 101
cameras have been put to use in mainland China; and 102
WHEREAS, The CCP continues to violate the right to freedom 103
of religion, persecuting Christians, demolishing churches, and 104
arresting leaders. Tibetan Buddhists are targeted through strict 105
state surveillance, destruction of religious sites, and mass 106
eviction of clergy. More than 500 Tibetans currently are held as 107
political prisoners, including the Panchen Lama, the Dalai 108
Lama's intended successor. These concerns are heightened by the 109
CCP's new forced labor transfer policy. Uyghur Muslims are 110
subject to some of the worst abuses. Between 1.8 million and 3 111
million Uyghurs have been interned in hundreds of political 112
reeducation camps in Xinjiang Province since 2018, where they 113
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face brutalities including forced labor, torture, sexual abuse, 114
and forced abortion and sterilization. Hui Muslims also have 115
witnessed tightening restrictions, including forced mosque 116
closures and imprisonment of religious leaders. The Falun Gong 117
members reportedly are subject to forced organ harvesting and 118
extrajudicial imprisonment; now therefore be it 119
RESOLVED, That we, the members of the Senate of the 135th 120
General Assembly of the State of Ohio, in adopting this 121
resolution, condemn the People's Republic of China and the 122
Chinese Communist Party for these actions, which constitute 123
unrestricted warfare against the world, and especially against 124
the United States, as described in the 1999 book on military 125
strategy, entitled "Unrestricted Warfare: Two Air Force Senior 126
Colonels on Scenarios for War and the Operational Art in an Era 127
of Globalization," by two colonels in the People's Liberation 128
Army, Qiao Liang and Wang Xiangsui, and for the systematic, 129
brutal oppression of its own people; and be it further 130
RESOLVED, That the Clerk of the Senate transmit a duly 131
authenticated copy of this resolution to the news media of Ohio. 132