The US military is eyeing a cold-war-style agreement with China to govern incidents at sea as part of a fresh push to strengthen communications and limit tensions as the PLA Navy expands, the Pentagon's Asia-Pacific commander says.
Asked during a visit to Hong Kong yesterday why the US did not negotiate the kind of deal it had with the Soviet Union during the cold war, Admiral Timothy Keating said there were 'nascent initiatives' under way to 'address that very issue'.
'We want them [China] to understand there are rules of the road, both literal and figurative. It is very much in their interest to observe and operate by those rules,' Admiral Keating said.
After years of tensions, close encounters and close surveillance, Washington and Moscow signed a protocol governing so-called 'incidents at sea' in 1973.
The comments from Admiral Keating, head of the US Pacific Command based in Hawaii, come ahead of Hillary Rodham Clinton's first visit to China as US secretary of state, which begins tomorrow.
Mrs Clinton is expected to highlight the growing importance of a robust bilateral military relationship. Beijing announced this week that suspended military-to-military contacts could now resume. Beijing froze the fledgling dialogue in October in protest at the United States' sale to Taiwan of arms worth US$6.5 billion.
During a press briefing, Admiral Keating stressed repeatedly the importance not just of dialogue but also co-operation with the People's Liberation Army in easing mutual suspicions and preventing trouble.
