The United States on Friday voiced hope that China and Japan peacefully resolve a worsening territorial dispute and urged all nations to respect international rules. Michele Flournoy, the under secretary of defense for policy, said all sides should 'try to be careful to avoid incidents that could inadvertently escalate.' 'We seek to resolve these disputes through direct talks between the countries involved and in a peaceful manner,' Flournoy said at a seminar of the National Bureau for Asian Research. The United States wants to 'make sure that as we have forces that are operating in the vicinity of one another, we all respect the rules of the road that are out there.' Tensions have flared between Asia's two largest economies since a Chinese fishing trawler and two Japanese coastguard vessels collided on September 7 near a disputed island chain between Taiwan and Japan's Okinawa island. China has summoned Japan's ambassador five times, demanded the release of the boat's captain and scrapped talks on joint exploration of a gas field near the disputed islands. The United States is a longstanding ally of Japan and stations nearly 50,000 troops in the country, half of them in Okinawa. President Barack Obama's administration has sought a cooperative relationship with Beijing, although military relations between the US and Chinese are fraught with mistrust. 