The agreement between Turkey and the United State will be the key, Wang said. Once Turkey launches a mass strike on the PKK in Iraq, the whole situation will be hard to control, Hua said.

"The United States has to comfort both Turkey and Iraq," Hua said. "On the one hand, it has to push the Iraqi Government harder to strike the PKK; on the other hand, it needs to persuade Turkey not to carry out large-scale strikes in Iraq."

Many PKK members have fled to Iran, according to the latest news reports. If Turkey also sticks to its plan of striking PKK members fled to Iran by crossing the border, the whole situation will be out of control. "It will create a Domino effect of suppressing the Kurds in the whole Middle East," Hua said.

About The PKK The PKK, a guerilla organization established in Turkey in 1979, wants to create an independent Kurdistan republic in the Kurdish residence area at the boundary region between Turkey, Iraq, Iran and Syria. The Turkish Government banned the organization, forcing it underground in southeast Turkey, where it has clashed frequently with the Turkish army. In the 1990s, the United States and European Union listed the PKK as a terrorist organization. Today, the PKK has more than 6,000 members, and its main sphere of influence is in north Iraq. Before the Iraq war started in 2003, the Turkish Government launched several military attacks against the PKK inside Iraq. In May 2004, the PKK said it would end the ceasefire that had been in place during the previous four years. Since then, and especially this year, the PKK's armed forces have been crossing the Iraq-Turkey border and launching several attacks in east and southeast Turkey. To prevent the PKK's attacks and settle the problem, the Turkish military planned to surround and annihilate the PKK by launching strikes in north Iraq. On October 17, the Turkish Parliament approved the government's motion to strike the PKK by entering Iraq. About The Kurds The Kurds have a long history in Western Asia. They make up the fourth largest nation in the Middle East with a total population of 30 million. The Kurdish people are mostly Sunni Muslims. Kurdistan used to be an independent province of the Ottoman Empire. It was divided into several countries after World War I, including Turkey, Iraq, Iran, Syria, Lebanon, Azerbaijan and Armenia. The Kurdish population of about 4 million in Iraq is about one fifth of the country's total population and constitutes its biggest ethnic group. This is the main reason that Iraq's Kurds want to create an independent Kurdistan. The Kurds live on about 80,000 square km of land in north Iraq, an area of geographic importance with abundant agricultural products and oil. In March 1975, after many rounds of negotiations, the Kurds and the Iraqi Government signed an agreement to establish an autonomous region in the north based on three Kurdish autonomous provinces. The Kurdish Democratic Party and the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan, the two main armed political organizations in the Kurdish region, are fighting for an independent state. Due to the conflicts between the Iraqi Government and the two armed forces, many Kurds fled to Iran and Turkey in the late 1980s. In 1992, Iraq's Kurds held an election and set up a local parliament. In October 2002, they mapped out a Kurdish constitution and chose their capital. After the Iraq war, the Kurdish region became more independent. (Source: Xinhua News Agency)

Pentagon Chief in China Discusses Military Hotline, Taiwan U.S. Secretary of Defense Robert Gates visited China on November 4-6, a trip that was regarded as an important event in the exchanges between the two countries' armed forces. Chinese President Hu Jintao, Defense Minister Cao Gangchuan and Vice Foreign Minister Dai Bingguo held talks with Gates. They agreed to set up a direct telephone link between the Chinese Defense Ministry and the U.S. Department of Defense, the first of its kind between China and another country at the defense ministry level. The hotline will provide instant contact between Chinese and U.S. defense and military leaders on major issues of common concern, especially in emergencies, according to the Chinese Defense Ministry. The Taiwan question was another major topic in meetings between Chinese leaders and Gates. Cao called on the United States to cease its official and military contacts with the Taiwan authorities, stop selling weapons to Taiwan and take concrete action to maintain peace and stability across the Taiwan Straits. He warned that if Taiwan leader Chen Shui-bian dared to make major moves toward "Taiwan independence," China would take resolute action and firmly safeguard its national sovereignty and territorial integrity at all costs. The U.S. Government would not change its adherence to the one-China policy and the three U.S.-China joint communiqués, Gates said. Gates is the highest ranking U.S. military official to visit China since his predecessor, Donald Rumsfield, visited in October 2005. It was his first visit to China since he was appointed Secretary of Defense in December 2006.