it. i want to ask you about one other table that was literally designed where the seat for the united states is still empty. there has been discussion about the south china sea and china's aggressive actions in building islands. the u.n. convention on the law of the sea, decade ago, was advanced by republican administration but has still never been ratified by this senate. and in june of 2012, you signed a letter indicating in your role of ceo of exxon/mobil, you supported the law of the sea. i was a member of this committee when then chairman john kerry convened seven hearings where panel after panel of four-star admirals and generals and business leaders and national security leaders and former republican leaders, the administration and senators all testified in support of this, yet we fell short of ratification. had we ratified it, we would have that seat at the table to