US senators move to block China and Russia research ships from American Arctic waters

US senators Mike Lee and Jeanne Shaheen have introduced bipartisan legislation that would bar research vessels linked to China, Russia and other foreign adversaries from conducting marine scientific research in US waters, according to an official statement from senator Mike Lee.

The Arctic Security and Diplomacy Act, listed by the Senate Foreign Relations Committee as S.4708, was advanced by the committee on June 17 as part of a package of 24 legislative items.

The bill would require foreign vessels to obtain consent from the US State Department before carrying out marine scientific research in US waters. It would block vessels that are owned, operated, chartered, flagged or controlled by foreign governments or entities linked to foreign adversaries if the secretary of state determines they threaten US security.

The draft names the People’s Republic of China and the Russian Federation among foreign adversaries, along with North Korea and Iran. It defines US waters as the territorial sea, the US exclusive economic zone and the continental shelf for marine scientific research and seabed or subsoil activities.

Lee said the bill targets Chinese activity carried out “under the guise of surveys and research”. Shaheen, the ranking Democrat on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, said foreign vessels should not be allowed to use scientific work as “a cover for espionage”.

The measure would allow the secretary of state to issue a national-interest waiver case by case, with written notice to relevant congressional committees within five days. It would also require a strategy within 180 days to identify and counter espionage and influence operations by foreign adversaries in the Arctic, followed by a congressional report within one year.

The legislation follows US Coast Guard encounters with Chinese research vessels near Alaska.

In August 2025, the service detected and responded to the Chinese research vessels Ji Di and Zhong Shan Da Xue Ji Di in the Bering Sea while monitoring five similar vessels in or near the US Arctic. The Zhong Shan Da Xue Ji Di was identified as a Liberian-flagged research vessel owned and operated by China’s Sun Yat-Sen University.

In July 2025, a US Coast Guard C-130J aircraft from Air Station Kodiak responded to the China-flagged research icebreaker Xue Long 2 290 nautical miles north of Utqiagvik, Alaska. The vessel, operated by the Polar Research Institute of China, was 130 nautical miles inside the US extended continental shelf boundary.

The bill covers seabed mapping, hydrographic surveys, oceanographic research, data collection around subsea infrastructure and unmanned maritime systems.