Thirteen years ago, a mid-air crash between a U.S. surveillance plane and a Chinese fighter jet off south China's Hainan Island resulted in the disappearance and presumed death of the Chinese pilot. The American plane, severely damaged, was forced to make an emergency landing on the island. A diplomatic row ensued, and bilateral relations plunged to a low point. While the past decade has witnessed an across-the-board expansion in positive Sino-U.S. ties, risks of such tragedies remain as encounters similar to that in 2001 have cropped up from time to time.

The most recent imbroglio broke out on August 19, when a Chinese fighter jet made "dangerous passes" at a U.S. Navy plane off Hainan Island, according to U.S. reports. China's Ministry of National Defense (MND), however, provided a somewhat different account. The Chinese jet took off to do routine "identification and verification" after a U.S. anti-submarine plane and a patrol aircraft entered airspace about 220 km east of Hainan for up-close surveillance, said a MND spokesperson. He added that the Chinese pilot operated the jet professionally and kept a safe distance from the American planes.

U.S. reconnaissance off China's coasts has long been at the top of China's list of concerns. Beijing regards short-range surveillance as one of the stumbling blocks hindering progress in China-U.S. military relations, along with U.S. arms sales to Taiwan and discriminatory restrictions on bilateral military exchanges. Less than a month before the incident, a MND spokesman cautioned at a press conference that "frequent U.S. reconnaissance in waters and airspace under Chinese jurisdiction seriously affects China's national security" and could easily cause inadvertent accidents. The United States has apparently failed to heed China's plea.

Washington may argue that its aircraft and naval vessels are entitled to the freedoms of navigation and fly-overs in China's exclusive economic zones, given the vague stipulations set out in the 1982 UN Convention on the Law of the Sea. The convention allows for such freedoms without elaborating on the conditions under which they are exercised. The real point of contention, however, is not about international law, but the conflicts between the two countries' strategic interests. The United States is expending resources to gather sensitive information about China's military. China, for its part, has to react to defend its national security interests.

This underlying conflict is unlikely to be resolved in the short term. It may even escalate as the United States boosts its military presence in the Asia-Pacific region under its "pivot to Asia" strategy. The Pentagon said the August 19 incident was the fourth case of "close intercepts" involving Chinese jets since March. It is high time that the two countries worked out solutions to avoid a repeat of 2001's accidental crash.

It is unrealistic to demand the United States to put an end to its reconnaissance missions immediately. But Washington should know that these missions, which highlight the U.S. distrust of China, may further fuel antagonistic sentiments. Worse still, persistent U.S. reconnaissance is tantamount to an insult against China at a time when the country is expected to become a major stakeholder in the international system.

The United States should work toward a process of communication that will allow it to end this "China-spying." Before that goal can be realized, however, the two countries should strengthen military information-sharing to, at a minimum, prevent accidents like mid-air and maritime confrontations. The Maritime Military Consultative Agreement signed in 1998 laid the groundwork for such a goal. The two countries now need to substantiate this agreement by addressing specific issues such as how Chinese and U.S. ships and warplanes should react when meeting one another, what rules to follow and how to communicate. Some believe that the absence of this mechanism was one of the causes of the 2001 accident. As they make joint efforts to establish shared procedures, the two countries can bolster the sort of mutual confidence indispensable in a sound military-to-military relationship.

Against this backdrop, both China and the United States should not let the August 19 incident disrupt ongoing progress. The key to resolving the surveillance conundrum lies in taking incremental steps to promote trust, dispel suspicions and narrow strategic differences.

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