ISLAMABAD – The United States, China and several other countries onSaturday agreed in principle to guidelines on preventing unplanned warplaneencounters, the latest effort to avoid military confrontations in Asia.
Risks of chance encounters between military aircraft spiralling out ofcontrol have risen in recent years as Beijing becomes ever more assertivein the South China Sea, stoking tensions with rival claimants in SoutheastAsia.
While not a claimant, Washington has also been drawn into the row as it hastraditionally been the dominant naval and air power in the Asia-Pacific.
The Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) agreed to guidelines onmanaging air encounters on Friday, at the annual meeting of the 10-memberbloc’s defence ministers.
US Defense Secretary Jim Mattis and his Chinese counterpart General WeiFenghe were among eight defence chiefs from outside ASEAN to give their”in-principle” backing to the guidelines, a joint ministerial statementsaid.
India, Russia, Japan, South Korea, Australia and New Zealand have alsogiven broad backing to the new framework, Singapore Defence Minister Ng EngHen said.
Any incident involving military jets can lead to a “cascade of activitiesthat you cannot control,” warned Ng, who hosted the meetings.
“You can have a gung-ho pilot who switches off everything and decides ‘I’mgoing to intimidate,'” he told reporters.
“That would be a disaster.”
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The guidelines set norms of behaviour for pilots to prevent untowardencounters. These include always having two-way communications open andadhering to existing aviation conventions.
The new rules follow similar guidelines already in place to prevent navalvessels from unintended mishaps at sea.
Early last year, a Chinese warplane buzzed a US Navy surveillance aircraftover the South China Sea, with the US claiming their plane was ininternational air space.
In 2016, a Chinese fighter aircraft also intercepted a US Navy surveillanceplane over the sea.
Four ASEAN members — Brunei, Malaysia, the Philippines and Vietnam — haveconflicting claims in the South China Sea with Beijing.
China claims sovereignty over almost the entire area, including waters nearthe shores of smaller countries. – APP/AFP
