The United States and China are planning to announce military agreements aimed at reducing the possibility of confrontation between the two powers, the Wall Street Journal reported on Tuesday, quoting unnamed US officials.
The Journal said one of the agreements would provide a mechanism for notifying the two countries of each other’s activities, including military exercises.
Washington and Beijing will also set rules of behavior in cases of encounters in the sea and air, the newspaper said, quoting people familiar with the negotiations.
Obama is attending an Asia-Pacific summit in Beijing.
The summit comes at a time of growing China-US friction, with Washington trying to expand American interests in Asia, while Xi demonstrates more willingness than his predecessors to demonstrate Beijing’s clout on regional issues, including the pursuit of maritime claims in Asia.
Cyber-spying and maritime disputes will be among the issues discussed in the Obama-Xi talks, US deputy national security adviser Ben Rhodes said.
New Chinese Stealth Fighter
China unveiled a sophisticated new stealth fighter jet at an air show on Tuesday, a show of muscle during a visit by US President Barack Obama for an Asia-Pacific summit.
China hopes the much-anticipated J-31 stealth aircraft, developed by the Aviation Industry Corp of China (Avic), the country’s top aircraft maker, will compete with US-made hardware in export markets.
The twin-engine fighter jet was unveiled at the China International Aviation and Aerospace Exhibition in the southern city of Zhuhai, a biennial event at which China shows off its military technology, according to Reuters.
China hopes the J-31 will compete with the US-made F-35 stealth aircraft as China works to strengthen its standing as an arms producer, according to China military watchers and state media reports.
“Experts predict that the J-31 will make rapid inroads in the international market in the future, and will undoubtedly steal the limelight from the F-35,” the ruling Communist Party’s People’s Daily reported on its website in August 2013.
It said the aircraft would be particularly attractive to countries that are cut off from US arms exports.
