A senior US defense officer expressed in Beijing Friday his
appreciation of China's humanitarian assistance to US efforts in
accounting for missing Americans in the 1950-1953 Korean War.
Robert Jones, US deputy assistant secretary of defense in charge of
prisoner of war/missing personnel affairs, is currently in Beijing
accompanying six US Korean War veterans for a meeting with their
Chinese counterparts from the Chinese Volunteers.
According to Jones at Friday's press conference, during the
Veteran-to-Veteran exchange, hosted by the Chinese Red Cross
Society, veterans from both countries "frankly" exchanged views and
their experiences during the war. Jones expressed the hope that the
exchange would finally help assisting the US in accounting for the
missing in action (MIA) Americans.
On
Friday morning, the US veterans toured the military museum, and
Jones believed that the exhibits there were quite informative and
some would be further followed up so as to see whether they would
be of assistance.
Jones voiced appreciation of China's cooperation in helping
accounting for missing Americans during war conflicts, referring to
the fruitful cooperation concerning the recovery of remains of US
military personnel killed during Word War II and the Vietnam
War.
He
believed that the current veteran-to-veteran exchange would be a
good start for cooperation in accounting for MIA Americans during
the Korean War.
(Xinhua 01/12/2001)