; Whereas, in 2013, the Philippines pursued arbitration under the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS) against the PRC; Whereas, in 2016, the tribunal constituted under UNCLOS to hear the matter ruled in favor of the Philippines, finding that the nine-dash line has no standing under international law when it stated: On the merits, the Tribunal concluded that the Convention comprehensively allocates rights to maritime areas and that protections for pre-existing rights to resources were considered, but not adopted in the Convention. Accordingly, the Tribunal concluded that, to the extent China had historic rights to resources in the waters of the South China Sea, such rights were extinguished to the extent they were incompatible with the exclusive economic zones provided for in the Convention. ; Whereas, despite being a signatory to UNCLOS, the PRC refused to participate in the arbitration and rejected its results; Whereas Article 4 of the Mutual Defense Treaty between the United States and the Philippines done in duplicate at Washington on August 30, 1951, states that Each Party recognizes that an armed attack in the Pacific Area on either of the Parties would be dangerous to its own peace and safety and declares that it would act to meet the common dangers in accordance with its constitutional processes. ; Whereas, on July 13, 2020, then-Secretary of State Mike Pompeo issued a statement clarifying United States policy by stating, in part: Beijing’s claims to offshore resources across most of the South China Sea are completely unlawful, as is its campaign of bullying to control them … Beijing has offered no coherent legal basis for its Nine-Dashed Line claim in the South China Sea since formally announcing it in 2009.