Renewed contacts urged on sea issue

With the US Navy reportedly planning to intrude in Chinese territorial waters in the South China Sea sometime this year, analysts suggest that defense authorities of the two countries should begin high-level contacts at an early date to avoid an accident there.

Although any specific actions that might be approved by US President Donald Trump and conducted in the sea were unclear, Beijing should be prepared militarily and boost economic and political ties with neighbors in the region, analysts said.

The US-based Navy Times website quoted three unnamed US defense officials on Sunday as saying that what the US calls freedom of navigation operations are "in the planning phase" and will include more warships sailing within 12 nautical miles of China's Xisha or Nansha islands this year.