U.S., China, others tentatively agree to multilateral air encounter code

[October 20, 2018]    SINGAPORE (Reuters) - Several countries including the United States and China agreed "in principle" on Saturday to multilateral guidelines to manage unexpected encounters between their military aircraft, joining 10 Southeast Asian nations already in the pact.

(L-R) Australia's Minister for Defence Christopher Pyne, Brunei's Deputy Minister for Defence Half Haji Yusof, Cambodia's Defence Minister Tea Banh, Chinese Minister of Defence General Wei Fenghe, India's Defence Minister Nirmala Sitharaman, Indonesia's Defence Minister Ryamizard Ryacudu, Japan's Minister of Defence Takeshi Iwaya, Laos' Minister of Defence Chansamone Chanyalath, Malaysia's Minister of Defence Mohamad Sabu, Singapore's Minister of Defence Ng Eng Hen, Thailand's Minister of Defence Prawit Wongsuwan, Myanmar's Minister of Defence Sein Win, New Zealand's Minister of Defence Ron Mark, Philippines Defence Secretary Delfin Lorenzana, South Korea's Minister of Defence Jeong Kyeongdoo, Russia's Minister of Defence Sergey Shoygu, U.S. Secretary of Defence James Mattis, Vietnam's Minister of Defence Ngo Xuan Lich, and ASEAN Deputy Secretary General Hoang Anh pose for group photo during the ASEAN Defence Ministers Meeting Plus in Singapore October 20, 2018. REUTERS/Edgar Su

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

The voluntary, non-binding guidelines build on an existing code to manage sea encounters adopted by all 18 countries last year, which was designed to mitigate risks following a boom in the region's maritime and air traffic in recent years.

"We all know that if there is a physical incident it changes the name of the game...it creates a cascade of activities that you cannot control," Singapore defense minister Ng Eng Hen, the host, said at a press briefing following the meeting.

The air code has been hailed as the first multilateral deal of its kind, although such arrangements exist at bilateral levels. The U.S. and China, for instance, in 2015 signed a pact on a military hotline and rules governing air-to-air encounters.

U.S. Defense Secretary Jim Mattis told his Chinese counterpart, Wei Fenghe, on Thursday that their countries needed to deepen high-level ties so as to navigate tension and rein in the risk of inadvertent conflict.

The U.S. military flew B-52 bombers across the South China Sea in September. Earlier this month, a U.S. Navy destroyer sailed near islands China claims, drawing the ire of Beijing.

(Reporting by John Geddie; Editing by Sam Holmes)

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