Defense chiefs seek friendlier skies over military points in Asia
Defense chiefs seek friendlier skies over military points in Asia
SINGAPORE: Eighteen nations, including the USA. UU And China, agreed in principle on Saturday to sign the guidelines governing potentially dangerous encounters with military aircraft, a step towards the stabilization of flashpoints, but one that leaves enough room for maneuver to ignore the new rules when a country wishes .
The guidelines essentially expand a similar agreement reached by the US and China Three years ago, they are an attempt to mitigate incidents and collisions in some of the most tense areas of the world.
Many countries in Asia have long-standing territorial disputes with China and its increasingly assertive military forces in areas such as the South China Sea, the Taiwan Strait and the waters and skies between Japan, the Korean Peninsula and China. Growing tensions and increased military traffic have raised concerns that unintentional encounters could escalate violently.
Singapore's defense minister, Ng Eng Hen, praised the new guidelines.
Photo:
Don Wong / Associated Press
The agreement in principle, to be presented for formal adoption by the group of 18 nations next year, took place at an annual meeting of defense ministers under the auspices of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations of 10 countries, organized by Singapore . The ASEAN nations formally adopted the new guidelines on Friday.
"The guidelines are very useful for setting standards," Singapore Defense Minister Ng Eng Hen told reporters after the meeting. "The 18 countries agreed on strong support in principle for the guidelines."
Mr. Ng said that the military represented included around 90% of the world's troops. In addition to China and the US UU., Countries include Russia, India, Australia, Japan and South Korea, as well as New Zealand.
Members of ASEAN, Vietnam, the Philippines, Malaysia and Brunei are trapped in territorial disputes with Beijing over the South China Sea. The strategic importance of the area for trade has been reflected in the United States, which conducts regular patrols of freedom of navigation to challenge the Chinese and other control claims.
Asean also includes Indonesia, Thailand, Myanmar, Cambodia and Laos.
China has claimed and militarized several disputed atolls in the South China Sea in recent years to end its claims in almost the entire area, an element of the growing tensions that have led Washington to reject what it sees as a broader pattern. of the unbridled Chinese economy. and military aggression.
China and the United States signed a similar agreement governing the meetings at sea and in the air in 2015, but Beijing has often ignored international standards in military encounters. The United States complained this month that a The Chinese warship came dangerously and aggressively close a guided missile destroyer of the United States Navy while conducting a freedom of navigation patrol in the South China Sea.
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We all know that if there is a physical incident, change the name of the game
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Such incidents have also occurred in the air. Last year, the United States military said. Two Chinese fighter jets intercepted a US surveillance aircraft. over the East China Sea, between China and Japan, and flew extremely close. China disputed the account and said that its plane had intercepted legally.
The airfighting framework agreed upon on Saturday includes language that prohibits fast or aggressive approaches in the air and establishes guidelines on clear communications that include suggestions to "refrain from the use of uncivil language or hostile physical gestures."
The signatories of the agreement, which is voluntary and not legally binding, would agree to avoid unprofessional encounters and imprudent maneuvers. Follow a 2014 agreement between more than two dozen countries on guidelines for boat encounters.
The guidelines do not meet compliance requirements and geographic details, but they are "better than nothing," said Evan Laksmana, principal investigator at the Center for Strategic and International Studies in Jakarta. "Building trust around crises or military encounters can hardly move forward without some widely agreed rules of the game," he said.
China says it sees the persistent US military presence UU In Asia as antagonistic and destabilizing, and has tried to develop cooperation with Southeast Asian nations and exclude the USA. UU., That for a long time has provided the security umbrella of the region. The smaller countries of Southeast Asia are trying to balance the two and they are Programming exercises with both sides..
China's air traffic controllers routinely challenge any plane traveling near reclaimed islands in the South China Sea, which Beijing has equipped with radars, radio interference equipment and runways. It has unilaterally declared an air defense identification zone in the East China Sea, where China disputes the characteristics of the islands with Japan.
The Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Defense of China did not immediately respond to a request for comments on Saturday.
Mr. Ng from Singapore said that the increasing risk of a growing incident means that existing guidelines governing military activities must evolve. "We all know that if there is a physical incident, change the name of the game," he said. "Change the complexion, create a cascade of activities that you can not control".
Write to Jake Maxwell Watts in jake.watts@wsj.com
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