And don't you fuckers DARE come empty-handed!!!!!!!!
U.S. Relations With the People's Republic of China (2008)
U.S. Department of Defense
Office of the Assistant Secretary of Defense (Public Affairs)
News Transcript
Presenter: Commander, U.S. Pacific Command Adm. Timothy Keating
May 28, 2008
DoD News Briefing with Adm. Keating from the Pentagon Briefing Room, Arlington, Va
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ADM. KEATING: I love saying it. Good morning, one and all. It's still morning.
For those who aren't familiar, Tim Keating, commander of the United States Pacific Command, here in Washington for a little while and will leave this evening to join the secretary and the chairman in Singapore for Shangri-La Dialogue and then proceed to -- hello, Jonathan -- to Korea for the change of command there.
A couple of topics that -- in which you might be interested. Burma, to start, and then I'll talk China for just a second and then a couple other relief operations we have under way, and I'll be happy to take your questions.
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On to People's Republic of China, in the wake of the disastrous earthquake there, we have sent several flights out of the Transportation Command and Air Force assets, principal among them two C-17s that flew last weekend to close to the epicenter of the earthquake.
They were loaded with earthquake relief supplies that we got from FEMA -- two airplanes with tens of thousands of pounds of equipment including chainsaws, generators, again, plastic sheeting for shelters and some water purification equipment.
That evening, that Saturday night, I was given permission to use the secretary of Defense hotline and called a senior official, a Lieutenant General Ma in the People's Republic of China, and discussed with him the aid we had provided.
He was aware of it. The C-17s had just landed and unloaded their cargo. He was aware of their arrival and the materiel contained in the cargo. So we used the Defense hotline, if you will. It worked just fine. His translator was quite good.
I had met Ma a couple of times. So we had this -- he's an air force fighter pilot in China. So we had a little professional experience with each other, not in airplanes but in meetings in Beijing. Good conversation with him, on the phone for about an hour, and relayed our sympathy for the casualties that they had suffered, as we passed to our Burmese colleagues as well.
We've flown a couple more airplanes since then, one of them carrying members of a Los Angeles Fire Department urban rescue team, and we just sent another load of tents. As you're no doubt aware, because we're getting the information from you guys, principally there are millions of folks who are without shelter. And so one of the things that the Chinese tell us they need is tents. So we've just sent a load of a couple hundred tents yesterday or the day before.
http://hongkong.usconsulate.gov/uscn_others_2008052801.html