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.
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