Accord sets up hotline for Sino, PH presidents

(UPDATES) A RECENTLY signed agreement will open a direct line of communication between China and the Philippines' presidential offices to try and prevent any new confrontation from spiraling out of control in the disputed South China Sea, according to highlights of the accord seen by The Associated Press on Tuesday.

China and the Philippines have forged such emergency telephone hotlines at lower levels of their bureaucracies in the past to better manage their disputes, particularly in two fiercely disputed shoals where the Philippines has accused Chinese forces of increasingly hostile actions and China says Philippine ships have encroached despite repeated warnings.