US fears clashes in South China Sea: Gates

SINGAPORE: US Defense Secretary Robert Gates said Saturday he feared clashes would erupt in the South China Sea unless nations claiming the disputed waters adopted a mechanism to settle rows peacefully.

"I fear without rules of the road... that there will be clashes" in the South China Sea, Gates said at a security conference in Singapore.

He said such clashes would serve "nobody's interest". Gates said it was urgently necessary for countries in the region to agree on a "multi-lateral mechanism" to allow territorial disputes to be settled peacefully under accepted rules. "We should not lose any time."