US military contacts with China under review

The Pentagon has said that future contacts with the Chinese military were under review, but it withdrew a directive from US Defence Secretary Donald H Rumsfeld to suspend all contacts.

Rear Admiral Craig Quigley, speaking for Rumsfeld, told reporters that the Rumsfeld aide who wrote the memo had ‘‘misinterpreted the secretary’s intentions’’ by declaring a suspension of military-to-military relations.

‘‘His actual intention is for all elements of the military-to-military program to be reviewed and approved on a case by case basis by the Department of Defence,’’ Quigley said several hours after the memo was leaked to reporters.

Quigley declined to say who wrote the memo. He said Rumsfeld had not seen it before it was sent to the military service secretaries, the office of the Joint Chiefs of Staff and senior civilian officials in the Pentagon.

The memo said Rumsfeld was directing ‘‘the suspension of all Department of Defence programmes, contacts and activities with the People’s Republic of China until further notice’’.

Several officials told reporters that the order took effect on Monday, the day it was distributed inside the Pentagon. Later, Quigley said that a corrected version would be sent to make clear that military-to-military ties were not suspended.