US, China meet to establish code of conduct on South China Sea

The US and China have started a two-day meeting at the Pentagon to set up a code of conduct on naval and air force safety on the high seas, in the wake of a Chinese jet intercepting an American Navy patrol plane in the international waters of South China Sea.
Describing the meeting as routine, Pentagon Spokesperson Rear Admiral John Kirby yesterday termed such intercepting by Chinese jet as reckless behaviour and asserted that the US would continue with its operation in the international waters of the Asia Pacific region.
"We're going to continue to fly in international airspace the way we've been, just like we're going to continue to sail our ships in international waters the way we've been. The United States is a Pacific power," Kirby said.

"We have responsibilities, five of seven treaty alliances in the Pacific region, we're going to meet those security commitments. We want to do this in an open and transparent way. We want to share as much information with our allies and partners and with China as we can, and we want to do that. But none of that cooperation is aided along by that kind of reckless behaviour, by that particular pilot," he said.
He also asserted that it was important for the two countries to continue to work at this relationship.
"That is not made easier by incidents like we saw with the intercept of our P-8 patrol aircraft, which was on a routine mission in international airspace. And under no circumstances and under no rubric of military relations is it acceptable to fly a jet fighter around a reconnaissance airplane the way that was done," he said.

"That said, that doesn't mean that the relationship isn't still worth pursuing, and we continue to look for avenues to try to increase the dialogue and the cooperation and the understanding and the transparency between our two countries. But, again, that incident did nothing to help that along," he said.
Attended by senior officials, the rules of behaviour meeting is aimed at implementing the relevant consensus achieved by the leaders of the two countries and to promote the establishment of the code of conduct on naval and air force safety on the high seas between China and the US.