Context

S. President Donald J. Trump signed into law the Asia Reassurance Initiative Act (ARIA), which passed the U.S. Senate earlier that month.

About

Asia Reassurance Initiative Act (ARIA)

• The act establishes a multifaceted U.S. strategy to increase U.S. security, economic interests, and values in the Indo-Pacific region.
• It will authorize $1.5 billion in spending for a range of U.S. programs in East and Southeast Asia and “develop a long-term strategic vision and a comprehensive, multifaceted, and principled United States policy for the Indo-Pacific region, and for other purposes.
• It includes multiple provisions and largely supports the Trump administration’s own National Security Strategy and National Defense Strategy documents, both of which have identified the Indo-Pacific as a strategic region of particular priority.
• It devotes attention to the maritime commons in the Asia( including Japan and South Korea) and the South China Sea, where it calls on the United States to support the ASEAN nations as they adopt a code of conduct in the South China Sea with China.
• Additionally, the act addresses U.S. policy toward North Korea. Specifically, ARIA calls on the U.S. Secretary of State, in conjunction with the Secretary of the Treasury, to justify the termination of U.S. support for any United Nations Security Council resolutions sanctioning North Korea or the lifting of any unilateral U.S. sanctions on North Korea.
• North Korea has made clear that it seeks sanctions relief from the United States for the limited disarmament gestures it offered in 2018, including the closure of its one known nuclear testing site and the partial dismantlement of a test stand for missile engines associated with its intercontinental-range ballistic missiles capable of striking the United States.
• It devotes considerable energy to reasserting U.S. support for Taiwan and calls on the president of the United States to “encourage the travel of high level United States officials to Taiwan, in accordance with the Taiwan Travel Act,” which was made law in 2018.
• The law calls for the president to “develop a diplomatic strategy that includes working with United States allies and partners to conduct joint maritime training and freedom of navigation operations in the Indo-Pacific region, including the East China Sea and the South China Sea, in support of a rules-based international system benefiting all countries.”