China and Japan did not use their defense hotline to communicate over the incident last week in which a Maritime Self-Defense Force destroyer temporarily sailed into Chinese territorial waters, diplomatic sources said Thursday, calling into question the direct line's effectiveness in crisis management.Bilateral communications were instead conducted via normal channels involving foreign and defense officials after the MSDF destroyer Suzutsuki, tasked with monitoring Chinese military drills on the high seas, entered China's waters off its eastern province of Zhejiang on July 4 despite repeate…READ FULL ARTICLE
