“The Biden administration is examining the possibility of setting up an emergency hotline with the Chinese government similar to the so-called ‘red phone’ established between the US and the Soviet Union during the Cold War, which allowed for direct communication with the Kremlin as a way to avert nuclear war,” CNN reported on Wednesday, July 14, 2021 (read story here).
CNN said, “While the concept is still in its infancy and has yet to be formally raised with the Chinese, the Biden administration wants to develop a rapid communication tool that could be folded into a broader effort to reduce the risk of conflict between the US and China ….
“A hotline to Beijing would let President Joe Biden, or top officials on his national security team, immediately send encrypted phone calls or messages to President Xi Jinping …. For example, urgent information could be shared about sudden military movements ….”
A key purpose of the Washington-Moscow hotline was to prevent accidental nuclear war. It could also be used to talk things over before launching intentional nuclear war. There’s historical precedent to suggest that a hotline with Beijing would be less useful for this purpose, i.e., they’d hang up on you. According to Wikipedia (here), “A hotline connection between Beijing and Moscow was used during the 1969 frontier confrontation between the two countries. The Chinese however refused the Russian peace attempts and ended the communications link.”
But the main question is why the Biden administration is “examining the possibility of setting up” a Beijing hotline when, it appears, one already exists. Again, Wikipedia (same link as above): “The United States and China set up a defense hotline in 2008, but it has rarely been used in crises.”
This suggest all they need do is just dial. But maybe they tried that, and kept getting a busy signal, or no pickup.
Photo: Dial “0” and leave a message
One wrinkle is how the Chinese government is set up, or rather how the Chinese Communist Party is set up. China’s nuclear weapons are not under the control of President Xi Jinping [but] the Central Military Commission. While Xi is the chairman he could be overruled or may not exert all that much power over the commission. That complicates or even defeats the purpose of a hotline. [Edited comment.]