Southeast Asian militaries are talking and sharing more as they seek to prevent accidents in the South China Sea, despite inertia from governments over territorial disputes with China.
Even as China's navy asserts its country's claims in the contested sea, warning off other ships and planes around reclaimed reefs, military chiefs from China, the U.S. and Southeast Asia are deploying mechanisms to avoid the sort of mishap that could spark a broader conflict.
Defense officials from the U.S., China, Japan, Russia and the Association of Southeast Asian Nations gather in Singapore from Friday for an annual conference, with preventing conflict escalation on the agenda.
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