Print

Mail

wiki links

US, PRC defense chiefs inaugurate telephone hotline

US Secretary of Defense Robert Gates and his Chinese counterpart General Liang Guanglie (梁光烈) used a new telephone hotline between the US and Chinese defense ministries for the first time on Thursday, the Pentagon said.

Gates and Liang spoke to each other for about 30 minutes over the direct telephone link, said Major Stuart Upton, a Pentagon spokesman.

Upton said Gates used the call to urge China to work with the newly elected leaders of Taiwan, and reiterated that the US opposes any unilateral effort by either China or Taiwan to change the “status quo.”

Liang pushed for an end to US-Taiwanese military relations, Xinhua news agency reported, which cited a defense ministry statement.

Gates congratulated Liang on his recent promotion to defense minister “and welcomed this important step forward in enhancing communications between our ministries,” Upton said.

He said they discussed “building on the positive momentum in military-to-military relations, encouraging the trend of greater transparency at all levels in which substantive dialogue can help avoid miscalculation.”

Liang said the direct telephone link was an important step that served both countries’ long-term strategic interests, Xinhua said.

The direct telephone link has taken years to establish despite periodic crises in military relations between the two powers.

US President George W. Bush and his Chinese counterpart Hu Jintao (胡錦濤) agreed to establish the hotline last September, but a formal agreement between the two defense establishments was not signed until Feb. 29.


This story has been viewed 888 times.