CODEPINK Resolution on Peaceful Trade Relations with China Unanimously Passes the Port Relations Committee of the Central San Pedro Neighborhood Council, May 3, 2021
Read the resolution below!
Resolution Recommending Peaceful Trade Relations with China, Not War
WHEREAS, we in the L.A. Harbor Area are an immense economic beneficiary of peaceful trade and cooperation with China, with the Port of LA engaging in $132 billion worth of trade with China in the Fiscal Years of 2020, sustaining over 8,561 ILWU jobs in the L.A. Harbor Area and over 947, 700 jobs in the five-county region [1];
WHEREAS, relations have recently deteriorated between our two nations, and anti-China rhetoric is already having a direct impact on Asian American communities in the U.S., with more than 9,081 anti-Asian hate incidents reported between March 19, 2020 and June 30, 2021, most of which were rooted in Sinophobia (fear of China/Chinese people) [2];
WHEREAS, the potential for a military and nuclear conflict with China has significantly increased since the U.S. has encircled China with an increasingly larger military presence (incl. 800 overseas bases) following the U.S.’s “Pivot to Asia” policy begun in 2011 [3];
WHEREAS, the Biden administration and Congress are explicitly using the inflated threat of China as a justification for over $66 billion in Department of Defense spending in the Asia-Pacific region for FY 2022, with China as their stated “pacing challenge,” and with the stated goal of “joint force lethality” [4];
WHEREAS, the U.S. military build-up surrounding China in the Western Pacific is accelerating the planet’s climate crisis through the destruction of carbon-sequestering forests and endangered coral reefs, the contamination and pollution of drinking aquifers, the maiming of marine life, and the endangering of civilians through military exercises [5];
WHEREAS, China is encouraging multilateral peace treaties and maintains a no-first-use policy on the use of nuclear weapons [6];
WHEREAS, the U.S. government’s position about the trade imbalance with China is often due to a difference in domestic consumption rates and not due to deliberate “foul play” by the Chinese government;
WHEREAS, participation in, not isolation from, a new era of multilateral trade, development, scientific progress, and cultural exchange could prove positive and beneficial to the U.S. economy and its people [7];
THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED that the Port Relations Committee of the Central San Pedro N.C. prefers that the U.S. deescalate its war rhetoric with China and instead promote diplomatic solutions to any legitimate trade disagreements with China.
AND BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that the Port Relations Committee of the Central San Pedro N.C. supports cooperation with China on climate change mitigation, global vaccine distribution, sustainable infrastructure and development initiatives, and peaceful international diplomacy.
Resources & More Ways to Take Action:
- View a Powerpoint on this trade resolution for more context, media, and evidence here!
- Take further action and sign our letter to Congress asking them to Vote No on more money for militarism & environmental destruction in the EAGLE Act (H.R. 3524)!
- Follow the China Is Not Our Enemy campaign site & follow our Twitter!
Sources:
- [1] https://www.unionfacts.com/union/Longshore_%26_Warehouse;
https://kentico.portoflosangeles.org/getmedia/a8fcbf89-f5dd-4027-8ffc-cb743f478f87/2020-Facts-Figures - [2] https://stopaapihate.org/stop-aapi-hate-national-report-3/?mc_cid=91c8a86743&mc_eid=3844918380
- [3] https://foreignpolicy.com/2013/08/20/surrounded-how-the-u-s-is-encircling-china-with-military-bases/; https://www.basenation.us/maps.html
- [4] https://comptroller.defense.gov/Portals/45/Documents/defbudget/FY2022/fy2022_Pacific_Deterrence_Initiative.pdf; https://asia.nikkei.com/Politics/International-relations/Indo-Pacific/US-to-build-anti-China-missile-network-along-first-island-chain
- [5] https://news.mongabay.com/2019/05/to-save-a-forest-you-have-to-destroy-a-nicer-one-u-s-marines-target-forest-in-guam/; http://bostonreview.net/science-nature-global-justice/julian-aguon-no-country-eight-spot-butterflies; https://portside.org/2019-04-22/us-military-base-threatens-biodiversity-okinawa; https://fpif.org/countering-the-china-threat-at-what-price/
- [6] https://www.cfr.org/backgrounder/no-first-use-and-nuclear-weapons
- [7] https://documents1.worldbank.org/curated/en/592771539630482582/pdf/WPS8614.pdf