U.S.-China Hotline Goes Unanswered

WASHINGTON (AP) — When a giant Chinese balloon made an uninvited visit to the United States, U.S. Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin turned to a hotline system set up with Beijing to defuse the situation. Austin ran into one problem with U.S.-China crisis communications in his Feb. 4 call, however. Often, as happened with Austin last week, top Chinese military officials refuse to get on the line. Sometimes, Chinese officials don’t even pick up. Former U.S. defense officials and other China experts cite fundamental differences in the way U.S. and Chinese leaders view the value of crisis hotlines.