China’s Close Plane Encounter Shows Need to Talk, Blinken Says

US Secretary of State Antony Blinken said a Chinese pilot’s “dangerous action” in a close encounter with an American aircraft underscored the need for regular communications between senior US and Chinese officials.

“The most dangerous thing is not to communicate and as a result to have a misunderstanding and miscommunication,” Blinken said on Wednesday at a press conference in Sweden. “While we have a real competition with China, we also want to make sure that doesn’t veer into conflict and the most important starting point for that are regular lines of communication.”