New US Air Force commander seeks air-safety dialogue with China
General Lori Robinson, the new US Air Force commander in the Pacific, says she is hoping to continue talks with the PLA on avoiding dangerous encounters in the air.
The US Air Force’s new commander in the Pacific said on Saturday she is hoping to continue talks with China on avoiding dangerous encounters in the air that have added to regional tensions.
General Lori Robinson said she anticipates a speaking engagement at China’s biggest air show later this month will allow her to renew dialogue on the issue.
“The dialogue is beginning. I think that’s very, very good for the region,” Robinson said in a telephone interview from Hawaii.
Concerns over risky aerial engagements were spotlighted after a Chinese fighter jet came within 9 metres of a US Navy P-8 Poseidon plane over the South China Sea in August.
That revived memories of a 2001 collision between aircraft from the two countries that killed a Chinese jet fighter pilot and forced a heavily damaged US surveillance plane to land at a Chinese base.
Tensions were also raised last year after China declared an air-defence identification zone over disputed islands in the East China Sea. The US, Japan and others have refused to recognise the move because the area encompassed by the zone includes territory controlled by Japan.
