; Whereas the United States has very sensitive strategic relationships with many BRI-participating countries, including Afghanistan and Pakistan; Whereas the PRC has released few details about the BRI, despite widespread calls from the United States, the International Monetary Fund, and other governments and multinational organizations for greater transparency; Whereas while the PRC has been opaque about the BRI, it has been very clear about its ambitions in the South China Sea in recent years; Whereas the PRC claims indisputable sovereignty over the South China Sea islands and their adjacent waters ; Whereas this assertion of sovereignty is not, in fact, indisputable to the other countries in the region; Whereas Taiwan, Vietnam, Malaysia, Brunei, Indonesia, and the Philippines, a United States treaty ally, all dispute the PRC’s expansive South China Sea claims; Whereas the PRC continues to construct militarized artificial islands in the South China Sea to bolster its position; Whereas trillions of dollars of ship-borne commerce pass through the South China Sea each year, including to United States markets; Whereas the PRC continues to aggressively claim sovereignty over Taiwan; Whereas, on September 30, 2020, the PRC’s Premier, Li Keqiang, proclaimed that we will … resolutely oppose and curb any Taiwan independence separatist behaviors and external interference, … and promote … the reunification of the motherland ; Whereas Beijing’s claims of sovereignty over Taiwan are belied by the fact that the Taiwanese people have independently governed their island for over 70 years; Whereas Taiwan is a vitally important friend and regional security partner of the United States; Whereas the Taiwan-United States bond has been solidified by the Taiwan Relations Act, the Taiwan Travel Act, and the Six Assurances first promulgated by the Reagan administration in 1982; Whereas the PRC continues to curtail the rights of the residents of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region