The United States and China agreed Wednesday on the need to reduce tensions and avoid repeating a recent confrontation between U.S. and Chinese ships in the South China Sea. “We both agreed that we should work to ensure that such incidents to not happen again,” U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton told reporters after meeting with Chinese Foreign Minister Yang Jiechi at the State Department. “We have each stated our positions, but the important point of agreement coming out of my discussions with Minister Yang is that we must work hard in the future to avoid such incidents and to avoid this particular incident having consequences that are unforeseen,” the top U.S. diplomat said. Yang's visit to Washington was “very positive,” and Clinton said she looks forward to continuing discussions with him started in Beijing last month to build a “positive, cooperative, and comprehensive relationship.” Yang is scheduled to meet Thursday with President Barack Obama and his national security advisor, James Jones. White House spokesman Robert Gibbs said he expects the naval dispute will be discussed but will not dominate the talks.
