An embarrassed Defense Department has retracted a memo ordering the suspension of all military contacts with China, saying it had intended all along that the policy to be to review the contacts case by case. Neither China nor the U.S. State Department had been notified about the policy. Pentagon spokesman Rear Adm. Craig Quigley said late Wednesday that the author of the memo misinterpreted Rumsfeld's intentions and denied that the Defense Secretary either read or approved the memo. He could not explain why it took the Pentagon two days to notice the erroneous policy statement. I can't answer your question.
Paper moves slowly.
Bush Supports Rumsfeld President Bush on Thursday backed Rumsfeld. He said the United States was still deciding whether to adopt a stance on Beijing's bid for the 2008 Olympic Games. Stumbles A Pentagon spokesman initially said Rumsfeld suspended all military contacts with China to reflect the strained relations that resulted from the plane collision last month. The memo would have prohibited all manner of contacts including working meetings and social contacts with Chinese officials at their embassy in Washington, and visits by Navy ships to Chinese ports, such as the one in March to Shanghai. The directive did not apply to Hong Kong, according to the Pentagon.