China, Japan Defence Ministers Make First Call On New Military Hotline

ABP: Japan, China Make First Call On New Military Hotline, Ahead Of G7, Quad Summits 

Japan and China on Tuesday made their first call on a new military hotline after years of negotiations to set up the communication channel. As per a report by AFP, the development was confirmed by the defence ministries of both countries. Japanese Defence Minister Yasukazu Hamada, in a statement, said that he held a conversation for 20 minutes with his Chinese counterpart Li Shangfu, the news agency reported. 

"Hamada mentioned the existence of security concerns between Japan and China, such as the situation in the East China Sea," it said. 

He "stated that it is necessary to have candid communication especially when there are concerns about Japan-China relations". 

The call was confirmed by Beijing, too, saying the air and maritime hotline would "contribute to further maintaining regional peace and stability". 

The hotline was launched on March 31 this year and had been mooted by both sides for over a decade as a way to avert unexpected clashes in the East China Sea.  

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WNU Editor: China has a history of not answering the hotline .... 'It just rang': In crises, US-China hotline goes unanswered (AP). 

 China, Japan Defence Ministers Make First Call On New Military Hotline  

Defense ministers from Japan, China inaugurate hotline -- AP  

China, Japan defence ministers hold first talks over new military hotline -- ACMP 

Japan, China Ministers Make First Call on Defense Hotline -- Defense Post

Japan, China ministers make first call on defence hotline -- Space War  

Defense ministers' line helps manage China-Japan ties -- China Daily

Is The U.S. - China Hotline Working?

Flags of the U.S. and China displayed on a table ahead of a meeting. © Provided by CNBC  

CSM: US-China conundrum: Can hotline diplomacy work if trust isn’t a goal? 

Shortly after the U.S. Air Force shot down a Chinese balloon that had traversed the continental United States for several days last month, Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin placed a call to his counterpart in Beijing. 

At his disposal: a special hotline intended to help the two increasingly competitive global powers to prevent sudden tensions from deteriorating into full-blown crises. 

The call went unanswered. 

The Pentagon later lamented the lost opportunity for the two sides to talk out the balloon flare-up before it devolved, as it soon did, into a diplomatic imbroglio. 

For its part, China’s Defense Ministry confirmed that its chief, Wei Fenghe, had declined to take the call because the U.S. by its action had “failed to create a proper atmosphere” for a bilateral dialogue.  

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WNU Editor: Explanations on why the US - China hotline was not answered when the US tried to call are making the rounds .... The U.S. and China have a culture clash around their telephone hotline (CNBC). 

But bottom line. Both sides are not talking .... US defense secretary tells CNN he hasn’t spoken to Chinese counterpart for a ‘couple of months’ (CNN).

Is The U.S. - China Hotline Useless?

Daily Caller: ‘That’s Really Dangerous’: Defense Official Sounds Alarm After China Fails To Pick Up Crisis Hotline 

 Chinese Defense Minister Wei Fenghe declined calls from his American counterpart after an Air Force-22 downed a Chinese spy balloon off the coast of South Carolina on Saturday, creating a “really dangerous” situation, U.S. defense officials said Thursday. 

Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin tried to contact Fenghe via a special crisis line, hoping to discuss the situation and hopefully ease tensions, according to the Associated Press. 

Fenghe declined to take the call after the U.S. Air Force shot balloon down on Feb. 4, the Pentagon said following the incident. A spokesperson for China’s defense ministry said in a statement Thursday that the minister refused the call because the U.S. had “not created the proper atmosphere,” for the two parties to dialogue and had “seriously violated international norms and set a pernicious precedent,” AP reported.  

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Update: ‘It just rang’: In crises, US-China hotline goes unanswered (AP)  

WNU Editor: This is nothing new. The U.S. - China military hotline has been broken for the past few years as this 2021 Politico article explains .... ‘Spiral into crisis’: The U.S.-China military hotline is dangerously broken (Politico). And the problems are deeper than just not having someone answer the "hotline" .... Another 'Hotline' with China Isn't the Answer (RAND).

U.S. - Russia Sets Up Hotline As Ukraine War Escalates

John Kirby: ‘We recognize … how critical it is that the United States and Russia bear in mind the risk of miscalculation and take steps to reduce those risks.’ Photograph: Manuel Balce Ceneta/AP  

The Guardian/Reuters: Pentagon sets up hotline with Russia to avert Ukraine ‘miscalculation’  

US has no troops in Ukraine but it and Nato allies in Europe are worried about potential spillover from Russian invasion 

The Pentagon has established a new hotline with Russia’s ministry of defense to prevent “miscalculation, military incidents and escalation” in the region as Russia’s invasion of Ukraine advances, a US official told Reuters on Thursday. 

The US says it has no troops in Ukraine but it and Nato allies in Europe are worried about potential spillover, including accidents, as Russia stages the largest assault on a European state since the second world war.  

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WNU Editor: The U.S. and Russia have a hotline on Syria. In that war zone there has been times when the other side did not pick up the phone.

In A Crisis With The U.S. Would China Answer The Hotline?

Antiwar.com: US-China Hotline Sparks Paranoia Among Military, Intel Officials

High tensions mean communications are often difficult in the modern era, and countries have used a direct hotline as a way to keep things from spiraling out of control. Recently, the US and China are considering an updated version of the hotline to avoid catastrophes.

But US-China relations are at a multi-decade low, and distrust is such that intelligence and military officials are offering rather paranoid predictions of ways that China might abuse the hotline to deceive the US.

The biggest objection to the phone seems to be based on it being a phone, with retired Captain James Fanell, a former director of intelligence in the Pacific Fleet warning the US might feel dependent on the phone, and then have China “fail to answer” when there is a crisis.

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WNU Editor: I am more worried about the lack of hotlines between China and its neighbours more than the one between the US and China .... Asian Governments Need To Establish More Hotlines (February 11, 2014).

After A Decade Of Talks, China And Japan Have Agreed To Set Up A Hotline

Chinese Premier Li Keqiang, right, shakes hands with Japan’s Prime Minister Shinzo Abe at the start of their bilateral talks yesterday at Akasaka Palace state guest house in Tokyo. Picture: Kim Kyung-Hoon/Reuters

Japan Times/The Yomiuri Shimbun: Japan-China hotline aimed at averting air, sea conflicts

A formal agreement between Japan and China to launch a “maritime and air liaison mechanism” aimed at averting accidental clashes between the Self-Defense Forces and the Chinese military was apparently prompted by their eagerness to prevent provocations from developing into full-blown military confrontations.

The Japanese and Chinese governments agreed on the terms without specifying the geographical range of the mechanism, given the issue over the Senkaku Islands in Okinawa Prefecture.

Ambiguities remain over how to operate the mechanism, making its success an uncertainty.

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Update #1: Japan and China agree on security hotline after a decade of talks (Reuters)
Update #2: China and Japan agree to set up hotline to prevent military clashes (SCMP)

WNU Editor: They have agreed in principle to set up the hotline, but differences still remain on the scope and issues that the hotline will cover.

North and South Korean Leaders Now Have A Hotline To Communicate To Each Other

The Guardian: Pyongyang calling: North and South Korean leaders get hotline as stage set for summit

Officials prepare for greeting on live TV between Kim Jong-un and Moon Jae-in, the first such event in more than a decade

A hotline between the leaders of North and South Korea went live on Friday, a week before they are due to hold a historic summit on the border that has separated their countries for more than six decades.

As preparations for the meeting gathered pace, South Korean media reported that the North’s leader, Kim Jong-un, and the South Korean president, Moon Jae-in, would talk over the phone before they meet next Friday.

The summit will take place on the southern side of the demilitarised zone, a heavily armed strip of land that that has divided the peninsula since hostilities in the Korean war ended in 1953.

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More News On North and South Korean Leaders Having A Hotline To Communicate To Each Other

North and South Korea set up hotline ahead of summit -- BBC
Koreas set up 1st hotline between leaders ahead of summit -- AP
Person to person: North and South Korea get neighbourly with direct hot line -- Reuters
North and South Korea open hotline between leaders: Seoul -- AFP
North and South Korea set up first hotline between leaders ahead of summit -- ABC News Online
Historic hotline links South, North Korean leaders ahead of rare summit -- FOX News
Direct hotline set up for North, South Korea presidents -- ABC News

China Denies Setting Up A Military Hotline With The U.S. Over North Korea

© Thomas Peter / Reuters

Global Times: No plan for hotline between Chinese military and US forces in South Korea

Chinese military’s Northern Theater Command has not set up a hotline with US forces based in South Korea, an anonymous source told the Global Times on Tuesday.

The source rebuffed a report by the Japanese newspaper Asashi Shimbun on Monday claiming that a direct hotline would be installed between the Seoul headquarters of US forces in South Korea and the Chinese military’s Northern Theater Command based in Shenyang, Northeast China’s Liaoning province.

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Update #1: Reports of US-China intelligence hotline over Korean crisis 'fake news' – state media (RT)
Update #2: Chinese Military Denies Setting Up Hotline on North Korea With US - Reports (Sputnik International)

WNU Editor: The Chinese were reacting to this report .... Washington and Beijing to establish military hotline on N. Korea (UPI). On a side note, the Chinese are not denying this report .... U.S., China to set up sanctions monitoring system on N. Korea (THE DONG-A ILBO).

China And Japan Agee To Establish A Maritime Hotline

DW: Maritime hotline hints at warming Tokyo-Beijing ties

A deal to set up a long-sought hotline between China and Japan was welcomed as a step forward, but as China prepares to mark 80 years since the Nanjing Massacre, analysts warn that tensions will not disappear overnight.

Tokyo and Beijing have agreed to introduce a hotline system to prevent accidental clashes in the East China Sea from escalating into more serious confrontations, the latest indication that the two governments are looking to forge a less confrontational relationship.

Critics warn, however, the underlying hostility that has dogged bilateral relations for decades will not evaporate overnight. And those often fraught links will once again be tested this week when China marks the 80th anniversary of the Nanjing Massacre.

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WNU Editor: It is going to take more than a telephone hotline to lessen tensions between the two countries. In fact .... they are agreeing to this hotline because tensions are increasing.

NATO Wants To Set-Up A Cold War-Style Hotline With Moscow

Russian President Vladimir Putin speaks on the phone onboard a helicopter in August 2015. Communication has broken down between East and West amid heightened tensions in Ukraine. (Mikhail Klimentyev/RIA Novosti/Kremlin/Reuters)

Brian Stewart, CBC: Cold War-style hotline proposed as tension between East-West rises in Ukraine

NATO chief calls for Cold War-style hotline as fighting escalates with Russian-backed rebels.

You can tell tension has risen to a very serious state of jitters when NATO feels the need for Cold War-style hotlines with Moscow to prevent sudden, armed clashes in eastern Europe.

This is no routine diplomatic caution. Hotlines are set up when parties fear there is a real possibility one side or the other might inadvertently push a tense crisis into an armed clash capable of triggering actual war.

The first one, famously, was set up between Washington and Moscow after the 1962 Cuban Missile Crisis pushed the two superpowers to the brink of thermonuclear war, and was kept in readiness all through the long Cold War.

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WNU Editor: I fail to see how such a "hotline" will alleviate the tensions that now exist between Russia and NATO. The problem is Ukraine, and while that is a conflict that begs for a political solution .... unfortunately .... for the moment all sides are not interested in pursuing such a course of action.

The Washington - Moscow Hotline Is Being Ignored

Charles Fitzgerald watches as an Airman operates the hotline teletype in the early 1960s. Army.mil

Bryan Bender, Politico: The hotline to Moscow goes cold

Deep inside the Pentagon, in the National Military Command Center, is the so-called red phone that has connected the U.S. and Russian high commands since after the Cuban Missile Crisis in 1962.

First a teletype, then a fax, and now a secure email and chat link, the emergency hotline was designed to prevent nuclear Armageddon. It is still tested regularly but seldom used — and not during the Ukraine or Syria crises, according to a Pentagon official.

“There’s no real need to — there are so many avenues to talk with the Russians,” said the official, who was not authorized to speak publicly.

WNU Editor: The U.S. - Russian hotline may be "dead" right now because there are many other avenues available for discussion between the two sides .... unfortunately .... these other avenues do not carry the same urgency or importance as a designated "hotline". Back room channels have also played a critical role in the past for defusing tensions or misunderstandings, and while I am not privy to the current state of these networks, recent news and events tell me that even these lines of communications are now "dead".

Asian Governments Need To Establish More Hotlines

(Click on Image to Enlarge)

Make Asian Hotlines A Regional Diplomatic Priority -- Next Navy

The U.S. Navy’s desire for a direct Navy-to-Navy Hotline with China is not new, and has been articulated every few years to little or no effect.

If direct Navy-to-Navy Hotlines between operational commanders have the potential to be important in Asian crisis management, then the U.S. Navy must start leading an effort to 1) make bilateral Hotlines more ubiquitous in the region than they are today and 2) demonstrate their utility by publicly using the existing Hotlines more often.

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My Comment: I am surprised that the U.S. does not have a hotline to South Korea or France. It also appears that no one wants to have a link to Iran. Also .... no Japan - China hotline link.