The Role Of US Congress In The South China Sea

Through convening hearings related to the South China Sea issues, what role does the US Congress intends to play? In today's international relations, the South China Sea dispute is one of the most complex and challenging maritime disputes. At the same time,the United States is an important extraterritorial force in the dispute over the South China Sea and has an important impact on these issues. From 2009, the US government and the Congress frequently get involved in the South China Sea issues. The Obama administration has launched a strategy of returning to Asia-Pacific, and the Congress has begun to pay attention to the South China Sea issues with high frequency. In the Congress, this is not only reflected in the number of bills passed by the House and Senate,as well as increasing numbers of hearings held, but also in the depth and breadth of the intervention intended by the participants to those hearings. Thus, the US Congress is the driving force behind the US government's involvement in the South China Sea issues,and the attitude of Congress on the South China Sea is an important for public opinion on the US government's stance. Members of Congress could directly affect the US government's action of intervention in the South China Sea affairs; indirectly affect the situation in the South China Sea, and even US-China relations. Some of the members of U.S. Congress are usually more straightforward and demanding than the government officials in the South China Sea issues.In the context of the growing US government's involvement in the South China Sea,it is important to explore how the US Congress intervenes and how they advocate about policies by the US government in the South China Sea. The research perspective of this paper is based on the US congressional hearings as case studies, trying to explain the role of the US Congress in the South China Sea and their influences in general. This paper analyzes the affecting channels of congressional factors on the South China Sea issue and the international political influence by the 113-114 Congress on the South China Sea Hearings through research methods of process tracing and text analysis.