US and China risking a military mishap without ‘mature communications’, America’s former top East Asian diplomat warns
- Susan Thornton tells the Post that poor bilateral information exchanges could increase tensions in South China Sea, Taiwan Strait
- Cites 2001 mid-air collision of navy aircraft that touched off an international incident
Washington and Beijing must strive to build trust through “consistent and mature communications” to avoid a military mishap amid tensions in the South China Sea and Taiwan Strait, a former senior US diplomat for Asia has warned.
“We must be extra careful not to have a mishap like EP-3 in the current environment,” Susan Thornton, the former acting assistant secretary of state for East Asian and Pacific affairs, told the South China Morning Post in an interview.
“I'm not confident that we have adequate communication mechanisms in place to prevent escalation.”
Thornton, who retired from the State Department in July, was referring to the 2001 collision of a US Navy EP-3E Aries II spy plane, on a routine surveillance mission, with a Chinese PLA Navy J-8 interceptor fighter jet over the South China Sea near the Chinese coast.
A bitter diplomatic crisis arose over the incident, which left a Chinese pilot missing; his body was never found and he was declared dead. Though heavily damaged, the American plane managed to make an unauthorised emergency landing at Lingshui Air Base – a PLA Navy facility on Hainan Island.
Thornton – attempting to raise awareness of the dangers of inadequate US communication with China – said the Trump administration “should be communicating more about things we know the other side doesn't like, because there are a long list of differences on both sides”.