US President Barack Obama told China’s foreign minister that the US and China must avoid more standoffs at sea, AFP reported. Obama told Yang Jiechi in a meeting in the oval office that China and the US should increase military dialogue in order to "avoid future incidents," the White House said. Meanwhile, unnamed US defense officials said that all US surveillance patrols in the area would be accompanied by heavily armed destroyers. The US claimed that Chinese ships harassed the US survey ship, Impeccable, which was operating in international waters. China claims the ship was on a spying mission. Obama also spoke to Yang about the need to cooperate on a solution to the global economic crisis, while reiterating his hope that Beijing would communicate with the Dalai Lama.
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