[Infowarrior] - US says military hotline with China likely within weeks

[Richard Forno]

US says military hotline with China likely within weeks
Feb 29 11:39 AM US/Eastern

http://www.breitbart.com/article.php?id=080229153930.2mavsec7&show_article=1

The United States and China aim to set up a telephone hotline between their
militaries within a month following an agreement signed Friday, the US
defence department said.

The deal was signed in Shanghai alongside another one giving the United
States access to China's military archives to search for missing servicemen
from the Korean War and other conflicts, the official said.

"We welcome this important step forward in enhancing communication between
our militaries," the US defence department said in a statement.

"The (hotline) will be a useful tool to make contact quickly, clarify
issues, and avoid miscalculations."

It added that the agreement allowed the two sides to move forward on
installing the equipment over the next few weeks, meaning the hotline would
probably become operational within a month.

A US defence department official told AFP the signing ceremonies took place
at noon. The official could not comment further, but more details were
expected at a briefing in Shanghai on Saturday.

The military hotline was first floated by the United States in 2003, and US
President George W. Bush reached agreement on the link when meeting his
Chinese counterpart Hu Jintao at a regional forum in Sydney in September.

The two nations discussed the issue further in November last year when US
Defence Secretary Robert Gates visited Beijing.

In November, the two sides agreed to expand educational exchanges and
military cooperation through a number of other methods, including joint
naval exercises.

The line will be China's first direct military telephone link with another
country.

US and Chinese heads of state have been able to communicate over a similar
hotline since the late 1990s.

In 2004, a direct telephone link was set up between the US secretary of
state and the Chinese foreign minister.

In the other agreement on Friday, US officials will be allowed access to
some of China's military archives to help in the search for thousands of
servicemen who went missing in conflicts since World War II.

The United States believes that those records could help determine the fate
of American servicemen who died in captivity, said Charles Ray, deputy
assistant secretary of defence for POW/Missing Personnel Affairs.

The Korean War is especially important because China entered the conflict on
North Korea's side in 1950 and ran many POW camps.

"The two militaries, through friendly consultation, have reached the
following arrangement to develop military archives cooperation to search for
information relating to US military personnel missing in action before,
during, and after the Korean War," he said.

More than 33,000 US troops were killed during the Korean War while about
8,100 are still listed as missing in action.


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