The US Air Force’s new commander in the Pacific yesterday said she is hoping to continue talks with China on avoiding dangerous encounters in the air that have added to regional tensions.
US General Lori Robinson said she anticipates that a speaking engagement at China’s biggest air show this month will allow her to renew dialogue on the issue.
“The dialogue is beginning. I think that’s very, very good for the region,” Robinson said in a telephone interview from Hawaii.
Concerns over risky aerial engagements were spotlighted after a Chinese fighter jet came within 9m of a US Navy P-8 Poseidon plane over the South China Sea in August. That revived memories of a 2001 collision between aircraft from the two countries that killed a Chinese jet fighter pilot and forced a heavily damaged US surveillance plane to land at a Chinese base.
Tensions were also raised last year after China declared an air-defense identification zone over disputed islands in the East China Sea.
The US, Japan and others have refused to recognize the move because the area encompassed by the zone includes territory controlled by Japan and claimed by several other regional powers.
The ongoing feud over control of the Diaoyutai Islands (釣魚台) — also claimed by Taiwan, and which Tokyo calls the Senkakus — has sparked fears of a collision or shoot-down, with Japan saying it has boosted jet scramblings by almost 30 percent in response to approaches by Chinese planes.
Robinson said that Washington wants all parties to adhere to internationally recognized norms for safety in flight similar to the rules followed by the US and former Soviet Union during the Cold War.
While not ruling out the possibility of future encounters like the one in August, she said it was vital that Beijing and Washington work toward an understanding.
“I never say never. What I will say is that what’s important is that we do start the dialogue,” Robinson said.
Robinson is the first female four-star combat commander in the US military and the first woman to head the Pacific Air Forces. While most commanders have been pilots by training, Robinson’s specialty is air battle management.
Her area of command encompasses 259 million square kilometers, ranging from the west coast of the US to the east coast of Africa, and from the Arctic to the Antarctic.
While yesterday’s interview dwelt mainly on the challenge from China’s growing military assertiveness, US officials say Russia has also been stepping up air patrols around Japan and South Korea, and traveling as far as the California coast and the US territory of Guam.
Republican US lawmakers on Friday criticized US President Joe Biden’s administration after sanctioned Chinese telecoms equipment giant Huawei unveiled a laptop this week powered by an Intel artificial intelligence (AI) chip. The US placed Huawei on a trade restriction list in 2019 for contravening Iran sanctions, part of a broader effort to hobble Beijing’s technological advances. Placement on the list means the company’s suppliers have to seek a special, difficult-to-obtain license before shipping to it. One such license, issued by then-US president Donald Trump’s administration, has allowed Intel to ship central processors to Huawei for use in laptops since 2020. China hardliners
Conjoined twins Lori and George Schappell, who pursued separate careers, interests and relationships during lives that defied medical expectations, died this month in Pennsylvania, funeral home officials said. They were 62. The twins, listed by Guinness World Records as the oldest living conjoined twins, died on April 7 at the Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania, obituaries posted by Leibensperger Funeral Homes of Hamburg said. The cause of death was not detailed. “When we were born, the doctors didn’t think we’d make 30, but we proved them wrong,” Lori said in an interview when they turned 50, the Philadelphia Inquirer reported. The
RAMPAGE: A Palestinian man was left dead after dozens of Israeli settlers searching for a missing 14-year-old boy stormed a village in the Israeli-occupied West Bank US President Joe Biden on Friday said he expected Iran to attack Israel “sooner, rather than later” and warned Tehran not to proceed. Asked by reporters about his message to Iran, Biden simply said: “Don’t,” underscoring Washington’s commitment to defend Israel. “We are devoted to the defense of Israel. We will support Israel. We will help defend Israel and Iran will not succeed,” he said. Biden said he would not divulge secure information, but said his expectation was that an attack could come “sooner, rather than later.” Israel braced on Friday for an attack by Iran or its proxies as warnings grew of
IN PURSUIT: Israel’s defense minister said the revenge attacks by Israeli settlers would make it difficult for security forces to find those responsible for the 14-year-old’s death Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Saturday condemned the “heinous murder” of an Israeli teenager in the occupied West Bank as attacks on Palestinian villages intensified following news of his death. After Benjamin Achimeir, 14, was reported missing near Ramallah on Friday, hundreds of Jewish settlers backed by Israeli forces raided nearby Palestinian villages, torching vehicles and homes, leaving at least one villager dead and dozens wounded. The attacks escalated in several villages on Saturday after Achimeir’s body was found near the Malachi Hashalom outpost. Agence France-Presse correspondents saw smoke rising from burned houses and fields. Mayor Amin Abu Alyah, of the