President Obama and Chinese President Xi Jinping agreed Wednesday to develop a code of conduct for military encounters between the two countries’ forces that’s aimed at preventing dangerous confrontations and reducing tensions as both nations maneuver for influence in the Pacific region, the White House said.
“It’s incredibly important that we avoid inadvertent escalation and that we don’t find ourselves having an accidental circumstance lead into something that could precipitate conflict,” Deputy National Security Adviser Ben Rhodes told reporters before the two leaders met in Beijing.
The agreement is meant to prevent incidents like an Aug. 19 near-collision between a U.S. Navy P-8 patrol craft and a Chinese fighter jet sent to intercept it over the South China Sea near China’s Hainan Island. The incident caused a war of words between Washington and Beijing over U.S. surveillance flights near China in an area of the ocean claimed by China — a claim the United States does not recognize.
The Chinese pilot’s actions — which a Pentagon spokesman called “very dangerous … pretty aggressive and very unprofessional” —nearly sparked a replay of an April 2001 crisis when a collision with a Chinese fighter jet forced a Navy EP-3 patrol plane to land on Hainan. The Chinese held the 24 U.S. crew members for 11 days, releasing them only after a U.S. statement of regret. The aircraft was later returned in pieces, after the Chinese had thoroughly studied its classified equipment.
