; table of contents. Sec. 2. Findings. Sec. 3. Definitions. Sec. 4. Policy of the United States with respect to the South China Sea and the East China Sea. Sec. 5. Sense of Congress with respect to the South China Sea and the East China Sea. Sec. 6. Sanctions with respect to Chinese persons responsible for China’s activities in the South China Sea and the East China Sea. Sec. 7. Determinations and report on Chinese companies active in the South China Sea and the East China Sea. Sec. 8. Prohibition against documents portraying the South China Sea or the East China Sea as part of China. Sec. 9. Prohibition on facilitating certain investments in the South China Sea or the East China Sea. Sec. 10. Department of Justice affirmation of non-recognition of annexation. Sec. 11. Non-recognition of Chinese sovereignty over the South China Sea or the East China Sea. Sec. 12. Prohibition on certain assistance to countries that recognize Chinese sovereignty over the South China Sea or the East China Sea. 2. Findings Congress makes the following findings: (1) According to the Asia-Pacific Maritime Security Strategy issued by the Department of Defense in August 2015, Although the United States takes no position on competing sovereignty claims to land features in the region, all such claims must be based upon land (which in the case of islands means naturally formed areas of land that are above water at high tide), and all maritime claims must derive from such land in accordance with international law. . (2) According to the annual report of the Department of Defense to Congress on the military power of the People's Republic of China submitted in April 2016, Throughout 2015, China continued to assert sovereignty claims over features in the East and South China Seas. In the East China Sea, China continued to use maritime law enforcement ships and aircraft to patrol near the Senkaku (Diaoyu) Islands in order to challenge Japan’s claim. In the South China Sea, China paused its land reclamation effort in the Spratly Islands in late