President Barack Obama said Friday that he and Chinese President
Xi Jinping had agreed to "new channels of communication" to avoid
misunderstandings between the two nations' military forces in the Pacific.
The move comes
amid rising tension in the South and East China Seas over China's territorial
claims and after U.S. officials this week accused a Chinese jet pilot of making
a "dangerous" pass near a U.S. aircraft over the Yellow Sea.
"We agreed
to new channels of communication to reduce the risk of miscalculations between
our militaries," Obama said at a news conference with Xi in the White
House Rose Garden.
A White House
fact sheet noted that the two sides had agreed to new annexes on air-to-air
safety and crisis communications to previous agreements designed to build
confidence between the two militaries, which operate in close quarters in the
Asia Pacific region.
The Pentagon said on Tuesday that a Chinese jet performed an
"unsafe" maneuver in front of a U.S. reconnaissance plane last week
approximately 80 miles east of the Shandong peninsula.
"One of the
maneuvers conducted by the Chinese aircraft during this intercept was perceived
as unsafe by the RC-135 air crew and at this point, right now, there's no
indication this was a near collision, but the report that came back was that
the plane operated in an unsafe fashion," Pentagon spokesman Peter Cook
said.
The intercept
follows a more dangerous maneuver last year when an armed Chinese fighter jet
came within approximately 20 feet of a U.S. Navy P-8 aircraft, at one point
rolling to its side to show the U.S. plane its weapons load, Pentagon officials
said at the time.
Beijing has
taken an increasingly aggressive posture in the South China Sea and disputes
over territories in the East China Sea continue to cause tension between
Beijing and its neighbors, many of which are close U.S. allies. In the South
China Sea, China is building a series of man-made, militarized islands 600
miles off its coastline and then claiming the surrounding air and sea rights.
In the East China Sea, China has claimed sovereignty over islands -- some
uninhabited -- that Japan also claims.
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