US, China and other countries provisionally accept multilateral air meeting code

SINGAPORE (Reuters) – Several countries, including the United States and China, agreed on Saturday "in principle" on multilateral guidelines to deal with unplanned clashes in their military planes, joining Southeast Asia already subscribed to the pact.

The world's two largest economies, as well as Australia, India, Japan, New Zealand, Russia, and South Korea have tentatively joined this agreement, originally passed on Friday by the 39 Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN), according to a joint statement issued after a meeting of defense ministers from 18 countries in Singapore.

The voluntary and non-binding guidelines build on an existing maritime clash management code adopted by all 18 countries last year to mitigate the risks associated with the explosion of sea and air traffic. the region in recent years.

"We all know that if a physical incident occurs, the name of the game changes … it creates a cascade of activities that you can not control," said the Singapore Defense Minister, the animator, at a press conference at the end of the press conference. meeting.

The Air Code has been hailed as the first multilateral agreement of its kind, although such agreements exist bilaterally. The United States and China, for example, signed a military line pact in 2015 and rules governing air-to-air meetings.

US Secretary of Defense Jim Mattis told his Chinese counterpart, Wei Fenghe, Thursday that their countries need to deepen their relations at the highest level to overcome tensions and limit the risk of conflict inadvertently.

The US military flew B-52 bombers across the South China Sea in September. Earlier this month, a US Navy destroyer sailed near the islands claimed by China, angering Beijing.