News-Info-Alerts

To: ALL

From: Andi Wolos & Bob Necci

(POW-MIA InterNetwork)

Re: US Wants China To Open Military Archives

Date: July 16, 2000

US Seeks Answers From China on Korean War US POWs

Two of the most contentious elements in the history of American POWs and MIAs are the former USSR and China. Today, the US tried once again to convince China that her secret archives may hold valuable information on the fate of some of the roughly 8,100 unaccounted-for men from the Forgotten War.

The military archives are believed to hold information on the Chinese run POW camps as the Communist Chinese became engaged in the war in October 1950. Their strategy was to insure, among other things, that UN-led forces be oushed back from the Yalu River, the separation between North Korea and China. In addition to their involvement, China not only ran POW camps, but, according to the Pentagon, itself took Americans as POWs during the war.

As expected, China has historically denied involvement and knowledge of US POWs.

Not only has the issue of Korean War personnel been a serious problem through the years, but Cold War shootdowns figure prominently in the equation.

China, a former US ally during World War II, plans to commemorate their entrance into the Korean War on 25 October 2000. Officials on the US side are hoping for a good-faith announcement from China that she will open her military archives during this commemoration.


Additional meetings are planned at the end of the month with DPMO officials traveling to China to broach the subject.