The United States has agreed with Singapore on a first deployment of the U.S. P-8 Poseidon spy plane in Singapore this month, in a fresh response to China over its pursuit of territorial claims in the South China Sea.
In a joint statement after a meeting in Washington on Monday, U.S. Defense Secretary Ash Carter and Singapore Defense Minister Ng Eng Hen welcomed the inaugural deployment of the aircraft in Singapore from Dec. 7 to Dec. 14.
A U.S. defense official said further deployments in Singapore could be expected. The move comes at a time of heightened tensions in the South China Sea over China's assertive pursuit of territorial claims there.