The US and Chinese armies have agreed on a framework for dialogue, and will soon augment a shared code of conduct with guidelines to avert errors or mishaps when their aircraft operate near each other, the China Daily newspaper reported.
Friday’s signing of the dialogue pact in Washington comes three months ahead of a planned visit to the US by Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平).
Tension has been rising in the South China Sea, where China is building artificial islands its neighbors fear could eventually be used as military outposts.
Last month, China protested to the US after a US spy plane with a TV crew aboard flew close to the artificial islands it is building.
Chinese Ministry of National Defense Foreign Affairs Office Director Guan Youfei (關友飛) said the two armies could hold joint exercises on land next year based on the code of conduct, “to make sure its terms are implemented correctly,” the newspaper said yesterday.
China’s defense ministry expects the dialogue framework “to open a new channel for leaders in the two armies to raise and discuss issues of mutual concern, such as humanitarian assistance and disaster response practices,” government news Web site china.org.cn quoted the ministry as saying.
The new guidelines on air-to-air encounters aim to reduce the risk of miscalculation or accidents when aircraft from the two countries operate close to each other, it said.
China was committed to reaching a consensus on the guidelines before September, it added.
US Secretary of Defense Ashton Carter on Thursday met Chinese Central Military Commission Deputy Chairman Fan Changlong (范長龍) and repeated a US call for a halt to land reclamation in the South China Sea, while stressing that the Pentagon remained committed to expanding military contacts with China.
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