Pentagon Scrambles to Clarify Its Memo

The Pentagon said Wednesday that it would cut off military contact between the United States and China. But it retreated within hours, saying the exchanges will be reviewed case by case and not automatically shut down.

A Pentagon spokesman blamed several hours of confusion over what at first appeared to be a sharp turn in U.S. policy on a misinterpretation of Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld’s intent.

In a memorandum written Monday, the Pentagon ordered “the suspension of all Department of Defense programs, contacts and activities with the People’s Republic of China until further notice.”

The document was sent to the military service secretaries, senior civilian officials and the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff.

Soon after the Pentagon disclosed the memo Wednesday afternoon, taking the White House by surprise, the senior military spokesman, Rear Adm. Craig Quigley, hurriedly began telling reporters that the exchanges were being individually reviewed. All contacts were not being cut off, he said, and the memo would be rewritten.

Summarizing Rumsfeld’s position on the programs, the spokesman said: “It’s not a yes, it’s not a no. It’s ‘I want a look’ ” at the exchanges.

The flurry of activity first suggested sharp confusion within the senior ranks of the administration’s foreign policy and national security teams. The Defense Department seemed to advance a policy that suggested new fallout from last month’s standoff with China over a U.S. spy plane as well as a toughened edge to the administration’s emerging foreign policy.

Later statements suggested either a hasty scaling back of the new policy--or the missteps of an overburdened office at the top of the Pentagon, where most senior aides are not yet in place.

Even if the new policy results in continued contact, each operation will be run with greater scrutiny than in the past. Under current procedure, a year’s worth of military exchanges were being examined at once, rather than a process under which each proposal would undergo scrutiny as it neared operation. The new policy will allow senior officials to weigh their approval against the state of U.S.-China relations at that moment.

The contacts commonly entail visits by military officers to warfare training sites and examination of military operations doctrines.

Quigley said the military exchange policy was under review before the spy plane, a Navy EP-3, made an emergency landing on Hainan island off China’s southeastern coast April 1 after colliding with a Chinese F-8 fighter jet. Technicians from Lockheed Martin, the American plane’s manufacturer, are on the island this week to inspect the plane and determine whether it can fly.

The Sino-U.S. military contacts were renewed only recently after being interrupted by the bombing of the Chinese Embassy in Yugoslavia two years ago. A Stealth bomber operating as part of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization’s air campaign against the Balkan nation attacked the embassy, apparently in error.

Three Chinese citizens were killed in the raid, 27 were injured, and China temporarily blocked the military exchanges.

In recent weeks, Rumsfeld has expressed dissatisfaction with the exchanges, which he believes offer China a detailed look at U.S. capabilities while giving Washington little more in return than a look at the Chinese equivalent of an Army PX.

In theory, the exchanges are intended to help each side learn enough about the other’s operations to avoid accidentally pressing the hot buttons that could lead to conflict.

In reality, said retired Army Col. Larry Wortzel, a former U.S. military attache in Beijing, they have done little to build Washington’s confidence in and understanding of the Chinese military and instead have “showed the Chinese how to fight better.”

Quigley said the guidance Rumsfeld gave to the memorandum’s author required that “all Department of Defense programs [with China] will be reviewed and approved on a case-by-case basis.” The reviews would be conducted by Rumsfeld’s office.

“The implication that it was being suspended until further notice--that wasn’t his intention,” the spokesman said.

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Times staff writer Paul Richter contributed to this report.