The resolution, “calling for a peaceful, multilateral resolution to maritime territorial disputes in Southeast Asia”, indicated that on June 9 a Chinese fishing boat, supported by two Chinese fishery administration vessels, ran into and disabled the cables of a Vietnamese exploration ship, the Viking 2, in an area within 200 nautical miles of Vietnam's continental shelf.

This followed a similar incident on May 26 when a Chinese marine surveillance vessels cut the cables of another exploration ship from Vietnam, the Binh Minh, in the waters near Cam Ranh Bay and another incident in March near the Philippines, as well as incidents at sea last year in the Senkaku Islands, which are under the Administration of Japan, said Senator Webb.

The resolution also cited Secretary of State Hillary Clinton as expressing the US’s support of the declaration on the code of conduct of parties in the East Sea, signed by the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) and China in 2002.

The United States supports a collaborative diplomatic process by all claimants for resolving the various territorial disputes without coercion, it said.

It also cited Secretary of Defense Robert Gates as saying at the Shangri-La Dialogue in Singapore on June 3, 2011 that the US reaffirms its strong support for the peaceful resolution of maritime territorial disputes in the East Sea and pledges continued efforts to facilitate a multilateral, peaceful process to resolve these disputes in a manner consistent with customary international law.

The US also condemns the use of force by naval and maritime security vessels from China in the East Sea and calls on all parties in the territorial dispute to refrain from threatening or using force to assert their territorial claims.