The US and Chinese armies have agreed on a framework for dialogue, and will soon augment a shared code of conduct with guidelines to avert errors or mishaps when their aircraft operate near each other, the China Daily newspaper reported.
Friday’s signing of the dialogue pact in Washington comes three months ahead of a planned visit to the US by Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平).
Tension has been rising in the South China Sea, where China is building artificial islands its neighbors fear could eventually be used as military outposts.
Last month, China protested to the US after a US spy plane with a TV crew aboard flew close to the artificial islands it is building.
Chinese Ministry of National Defense Foreign Affairs Office Director Guan Youfei (關友飛) said the two armies could hold joint exercises on land next year based on the code of conduct, “to make sure its terms are implemented correctly,” the newspaper said yesterday.
China’s defense ministry expects the dialogue framework “to open a new channel for leaders in the two armies to raise and discuss issues of mutual concern, such as humanitarian assistance and disaster response practices,” government news Web site china.org.cn quoted the ministry as saying.
The new guidelines on air-to-air encounters aim to reduce the risk of miscalculation or accidents when aircraft from the two countries operate close to each other, it said.
China was committed to reaching a consensus on the guidelines before September, it added.
US Secretary of Defense Ashton Carter on Thursday met Chinese Central Military Commission Deputy Chairman Fan Changlong (范長龍) and repeated a US call for a halt to land reclamation in the South China Sea, while stressing that the Pentagon remained committed to expanding military contacts with China.
AIR DEFENSE: The Norwegian missile system has proved highly effective in Ukraine in its war against Russia, and the US has recommended it for Taiwan, an expert said The Norwegian Advanced Surface-to-Air Missile Systems (NASAMS) Taiwan ordered from the US would be installed in strategically important positions in Taipei and New Taipei City to guard the region, the Ministry of National Defense said in statement yesterday. The air defense system would be deployed in Taipei’s Songshan District (松山) and New Taipei City’s Tamsui District (淡水), the ministry said, adding that the systems could be delivered as soon as the end of this year. The US Defense Security Cooperation Agency has previously said that three NASAMS would be sold to Taiwan. The weapons are part of the 17th US arms sale to
INSURRECTION: The NSB said it found evidence the CCP was seeking snipers in Taiwan to target members of the military and foreign organizations in the event of an invasion The number of Chinese spies prosecuted in Taiwan has grown threefold over a four-year period, the National Security Bureau (NSB) said in a report released yesterday. In 2021 and 2022, 16 and 10 spies were prosecuted respectively, but that number grew to 64 last year, it said, adding that the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) was working with gangs in Taiwan to develop a network of armed spies. Spies in Taiwan have on behalf of the CCP used a variety of channels and methods to infiltrate all sectors of the country, and recruited Taiwanese to cooperate in developing organizations and obtaining sensitive information
BREAKTHROUGH: The US is making chips on par in yield and quality with Taiwan, despite people saying that it could not happen, the official said Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電) has begun producing advanced 4-nanometer (nm) chips for US customers in Arizona, US Secretary of Commerce Gina Raimondo said, a milestone in the semiconductor efforts of the administration of US President Joe Biden. In November last year, the commerce department finalized a US$6.6 billion grant to TSMC’s US unit for semiconductor production in Phoenix, Arizona. “For the first time ever in our country’s history, we are making leading edge 4-nanometer chips on American soil, American workers — on par in yield and quality with Taiwan,” Raimondo said, adding that production had begun in recent
Seven hundred and sixty-four foreigners were arrested last year for acting as money mules for criminals, with many entering Taiwan on a tourist visa for all-expenses-paid trips, the Criminal Investigation Bureau (CIB) said on Saturday. Although from Jan. 1 to Dec. 26 last year, 26,478 people were arrested for working as money mules, the bureau said it was particularly concerned about those entering the country as tourists or migrant workers who help criminals and scammers pick up or transfer illegally obtained money. In a report, officials divided the money mules into two groups, the first of which are foreigners, mainly from Malaysia
RSS