Marco Rubio, Tom Cotton Look to Scuttle Obama's Nuclear Agreement With China

U.S. Sen. Marco Rubio, R-Fla., teamed up with U.S. Sen. Tom Cotton, R-Ark., to propose scuttling President Barack Obama’s U.S.-China Nuclear Cooperation Agreement.

 “Even as this administration’s disregard for longstanding U.S. nonproliferation norms has reached a new level with their flawed deal with Iran, I find it unbelievable that the Obama administration has submitted a new nuclear cooperation agreement with China to Congress given recent Chinese behavior,” said Rubio on Wednesday. “Congress established guidelines for U.S. nuclear cooperation policy to prevent proliferation, not encourage it. In recent decades, while the United States has conducted nuclear cooperation with China, Chinese entities have continued to proliferate sensitive military technology to Iran and North Korea and assisted Pakistan’s nuclear program. Simultaneously, the Chinese government has tested the boundaries of our relationship by conducting devastating cyber attacks against American businesses and U.S. government agencies.
 
“During congressional review of this agreement, serious questions have been raised about China’s compliance with the existing nuclear cooperation agreement and Beijing’s intentions to violate the agreement now before Congress,” Rubio added. “The stakes are too high for us to continue a business-as-usual approach to China by letting this agreement enter into force. The Senate must act to ensure President Obama is not given another opportunity to weaken our national security and put America and our allies at risk.”
 
“Given China’s belligerence in the South China Sea, relentless cyber attacks against the U.S. and U.S. companies, and unwillingness to stop known proliferators, it is unconscionable that they’re rewarded with a new Nuclear Cooperation Agreement,” Cotton said. “This agreement erodes the advantage our Navy has over the Chinese navy and ultimately puts U.S. sailors and Marines at a greater risk in a confrontation scenario. President Obama should withdraw the agreement until China ceases its cyber attacks and arrests known proliferations.”