BEIJING/WASHINGTON, (Reuters) – The U.S. and Chinese navies held high-level talks yesterday after a U.S. warship challenged China’s territorial assertions in the South China Sea, and a U.S. official said they agreed to maintain dialogue and follow protocols to avoid clashes.
After the talks between U.S. chief of naval operations Admiral John Richardson and his Chinese counterpart, Admiral Wu Shengli, scheduled port visits by U.S. and Chinese ships and planned visits to China by senior U.S. Navy officers remained on track, the official said.
“None of that is in jeopardy. Nothing has been cancelled,” said the official.
Both officers also agreed on the need to stick to protocols established under the Code for Unplanned Encounters at Sea.
“They agreed that it’s very important that both sides continue to use the protocols under the CUES agreement when they’re operating close to keep the chances for misunderstanding and any kind of provocation from occurring,” said the official.
The talks, by video conference, were held to calm tensions after Beijing rebuked Washington for sending a guided-missile destroyer within 12 nautical miles of one of China’s man-made islands in the South China Sea’s Spratly archipelago on Tuesday.
A U.S. Navy spokesman stressed Washington’s position that U.S. freedom of navigation operations were meant to “protect the rights, freedoms, and lawful uses of the sea and airspace guaranteed to all nations under international law.”
There was no immediate comment from China on the talks. A spokesman for China’s Ministry of Defense said earlier that Wu would present Beijing’s “solemn position on the U.S. vessel’s entry without permission” into waters in the South China Sea.
“We would urge the U.S. side not to continue down the wrong path,” Defence Ministry spokesman Yang Yujun said. “But if they do, we will take all necessary measures in accordance with the need.”
China suffered a setback on Thursday in its broad territorial claims in the South China Sea when an arbitration court in The Hague said it had jurisdiction to hear some territorial claims the Philippines filed against China.