A hotline is a point-to-point

communications Communication (from la, communicare, meaning "to share" or "to be in relation with") is usually defined as the transmission of information. The term may also refer to the message communicated through such transmissions or the field of inquir ...

link in which a

call Call or Calls may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media Games * Call, a type of betting in poker * Call, in the game of contract bridge, a bid, pass, double, or redouble in the bidding stage Music and dance * Call (band), from Lahore, Paki ...

is automatically directed to the preselected destination without any additional action by the user when the

end instrument In the context of telecommunications, a terminal is a device which ends a telecommunications link and is the point at which a signal enters or leaves a network. Examples of terminal equipment include telephones, fax machines, computer termina ...

goes

off-hook In telephony, on-hook and off-hook are two states of a communication circuit. On subscriber telephones the states are produced by placing the handset onto or off the hookswitch. Placing the circuit into the off-hook state is also called ''seizing th ...

. An example would be a phone that automatically connects to emergency services on picking up the receiver. Therefore, dedicated hotline phones do not need a rotary dial or keypad. A hotline can also be called an automatic signaling,

ringdown In telephony, ringdown is a method of signaling an operator in which telephone ringing current is sent over the line to operate a lamp or cause the operation of a self-locking relay known as a ''drop''. Ringdown is used in manual operation, a ...

, or off-hook service.

For crises and service

True hotlines cannot be used to originate calls other than to preselected destinations. However, in common or colloquial usage, a "hotline" often refers to a call center reachable by dialing a standard telephone number, or sometimes the phone numbers themselves. This is especially the case with 24-hour, noncommercial numbers, such as police tip hotlines or suicide crisis hotlines, which are staffed around the clock and thereby give the appearance of real hotlines. Increasingly, however, the term is found being applied to any customer service telephone number.

Between states

Russia–United States

The most famous hotline between states is the

Moscow–Washington hotline The Moscow–Washington hotline (formally known in the United States as the Washington–Moscow Direct Communications Link; rus, Горячая линия Вашингтон — Москва, r=Goryachaya liniya Vashington–Moskva) is a system t ...

, which is also known as the "red telephone", although telephones have never been used in this capacity. This direct communications link was established on 20 June 1963, in the wake of the Cuban Missile Crisis which convinced both sides of the need for better communications, and utilized teletypewriter technology, later replaced by telecopier and then by electronic mail.

United Kingdom–United States

Already during

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposing ...

—two decades before the Washington–Moscow hotline was established—there was a hotline between

No. 10 Downing Street 10 Downing Street in London, also known colloquially in the United Kingdom as Number 10, is the official residence and executive office of the First Lord of the Treasury, first lord of the treasury, usually, by convention, the Prime Minister of ...

and the Cabinet War Room bunker under the Treasury, Whitehall; with the

White House The White House is the official residence and workplace of the president of the United States. It is located at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue NW in Washington, D.C., and has been the residence of every U.S. president since John Adams in ...

in Washington, D.C. From 1943 to 1946, this link was made secure by using the very first voice encryption machine, called SIGSALY.

China–Russia

A hotline connection between

Beijing } Beijing ( ; ; ), alternatively romanized as Peking ( ), is the capital of the People's Republic of China. It is the center of power and development of the country. Beijing is the world's most populous national capital city, with over 21 ...

and

Moscow Moscow ( , US chiefly ; rus, links=no, Москва, r=Moskva, p=mɐskˈva, a=Москва.ogg) is the capital and largest city of Russia. The city stands on the Moskva River in Central Russia, with a population estimated at 13.0 millio ...

was used during the 1969 frontier confrontation between the two countries. The Chinese however refused the Russian peace attempts and ended the communications link. After a reconciliation between the former enemies, the hotline between China and Russia was revived in 1996.

France–Russia

On his visit to the Soviet Union in 1966, French President Charles de Gaulle announced that a hotline would be established between Paris and Moscow. The line was upgraded from a telex to a high-speed fax machine in 1989.

Russia–United Kingdom

A London–Moscow hotline was not formally established until a treaty of friendship between the two countries in 1992. An upgrade was announced when Foreign Secretary

William Hague William is a male given name of Germanic origin.Hanks, Hardcastle and Hodges, ''Oxford Dictionary of First Names'', Oxford University Press, 2nd edition, , p. 276. It became very popular in the English language after the Norman conquest of Engl ...

visited Moscow in 2011.

India–Pakistan

On 20 June 2004, both

India India, officially the Republic of India (Hindi: ), is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by area, the second-most populous country, and the most populous democracy in the world. Bounded by the Indian Ocean on the so ...

and

Pakistan Pakistan ( ur, ), officially the Islamic Republic of Pakistan ( ur, , label=none), is a country in South Asia. It is the world's fifth-most populous country, with a population of almost 243 million people, and has the world's second-lar ...

agreed to extend a nuclear testing ban and to set up an

Islamabad–New Delhi hotline The Islamabad–New Delhi hotline is a system that allows direct communication between the leaders of India and Pakistan. The hotline, according to the media sources, was established in 1971, shortly after the end of the 1971 war. The hotline ...

between their foreign secretaries aimed at preventing misunderstandings that might lead to nuclear war. The hotline was set up with the assistance of

United States military The United States Armed Forces are the military forces of the United States. The armed forces consists of six service branches: the Army, Marine Corps, Navy, Air Force, Space Force, and Coast Guard. The president of the United States is th ...

officers.

China–United States

The United States and China set up a defense hotline in 2008, but it has rarely been used in crises.

China–India

India and China announced a hotline for the foreign ministers of both countries while reiterating their commitment to strengthening ties and building "mutual political trust". As of August 2015 the hotline was yet to be made operational.

China–Japan

In February 2013, the

Senkaku Islands dispute The Senkaku Islands dispute, or Diaoyu Islands dispute, is a territorial dispute over a group of uninhabited islands known as the Senkaku Islands in Japan, the Diaoyu Islands in the People's Republic of China (PRC), and Tiaoyutai Islands in t ...

gave renewed impetus to a China–Japan hotline, which had been agreed to but due to rising tensions had not been established.

North and South Korea

Between North and South Korea there are over 40 direct phone lines, the first of which was opened in September 1971. Most of these hotlines run through the

Panmunjeom Panmunjom, also known as Panmunjeom, now located in Paju, Gyeonggi Province, South Korea or Kaesong, North Hwanghae Province, North Korea, was a village just north of the ''de facto'' border between North and South Korea, where the 1953 Korean ...

Joint Security Area The Joint Security Area (JSA, often referred to as the Truce Village or Panmunjom) is the only portion of the Korean Demilitarized Zone (DMZ) where North and South Korean forces stand face-to-face. The JSA is used by the two Koreas for dipl ...

(JSA) and are maintained by the

Red Cross The International Red Cross and Red Crescent Movement is a humanitarian movement with approximately 97 million volunteers, members and staff worldwide. It was founded to protect human life and health, to ensure respect for all human beings, and ...

. Since 1971, North Korea has deactivated the hotlines seven times, the last time in February 2016. After Kim Jong-un's New Years address, the border hotline was reopened on January 3, 2018.

India–United States

In August 2015 the hotline between the

and New Delhi became operational. The decision of establishing this hotline was taken during Obama's visit to India in January 2015. This is the first hotline connecting an Indian Prime Minister to a head of state.PT
"Modi-Obama hotline becomes operational"
''

The Indian Express ''The Indian Express'' is an English-language Indian daily newspaper founded in 1932. It is published in Mumbai by the Indian Express Group. In 1999, eight years after the group's founder Ramnath Goenka's death in 1991, the group was split be ...

'', Washington, 21 August 2015. Retrieved on 22 August 2015.

References

External links

Top Level Telecommunications: Bilateral Hotlines Worldwide
Telecommunication services Bilateral relations Hotline between countries de:Heißer Draht