Tan Ruisong, right, vice president of Chinese Aeronautical establishment meets with Charles Bolden, Administrator of NASA.

NASA and a Chinese aviation research institution signed a cooperative agreement for civil aviation air traffic management on Sept. 27, China Aviation News reported. It is the first bilateral agreement signed by U.S.- and China-backed research institutes in more than 20 years.

According to the agreement, signed by NASA and the Chinese Aeronautical Establishment, affiliated with the Aviation Industry Corporation of China, the two parties will collaborate in updating civil aviation management technologies. Air traffic prediction methods and analysis software will be jointly developed to improve the efficiency of air transportation between the U.S. and China.

Citing concerns about espionage, a clause in a U.S. spending bill approved by Congress in 2011 prohibited NASA from coordinating with China on any joint scientific activity. There was no duration specified in the clause, but it was generally understood to be effective for the fiscal year. Nevertheless, the clause continued to influence NASA management. In November 2013, NASA mistakenly banned Chinese researchers from attending the space agency's Kepler Science Conference.

Charles Bolden, administrator of NASA, and Zhang Xinguo, chairman of the Chinese Aeronautical Establishment, signed the agreement.