China And The U.S. Agree To Behave Civilly To Avoid 'Aerial Incidents'

A Chinese fighter jet during an allegedly "dangerous" intercept of a US surveillance plane in August 2014. Image Credit: U.S. Navy Photo/Released

The Diplomat: US-China Military Agreements Dodge Deep Differences

Hailed as “groundbreaking,” the new rules fail to address fundamental differences.

The new U.S.-China agreed rules for military air-to-air encounters are being hailed in some quarters as “ground-breaking” and a “milestone.” But like their 2014 agreement on safe military encounters at sea, this “annex” does not address the fundamental differences that give rise to these encounters .

The agreement was driven by a litany of “dangerous” incidents. Indeed, the U.S.-China relationship was strained by the EP-3 (2001), the Bowditch (2001), the Impeccable (2009), and Cowpens (2013) incidents. More recently, in August 2014 and again in September 2015, Chinese jet fighters intercepted U.S. intelligence-gathering aircraft over the South China and Yellow Seas. These incidents all involved Chinese challenges to U.S. Naval intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance (ISR) vessels and aircraft operating off China’s coast.

WNU Editor: If all fails .... both sides have agreed to at least behave civilly .... China, US Stress Good Manners in Avoiding Aerial Incidents (AP). My prediction .... this promise to behave civilly will last about two seconds.

Update: This is hilarious .... China says naval ties with United States 'best in history' (Reuters)