What will happen in Chinese - US spy plane incident?

The Chinese are going to delay as long as possible and board the plane to see what they can get their communist hands on and make use of. Hopefully, the crew followed the supposedly standard procedure of destroying the spy equipment. It was written up that this should have been done. I wonder if they have a button they can push to fry each instrument OR how they could do that in a quick manner? Maybe they have hammers assigned to them ?

What I think is completely unfair is how, since this incident has occurred, everyone that is foreign automatically just blames the US. They don't even want to see or hear the facts. It's automatically our fault and they have already handed down judgement. Granted, I think our govt. was only concerned about our crew and did not appear to care about or mention the other plane that went down. That is wrong. But, apparently the Chinese pilots have been very aggressive in the past, the US government has warned them about this, and they probably still were flying to close and very aggressively. Plus, we all know that the small plane has more maneuverability and needs to stay out of the big plane's way(which it probably didn't do). Also, the incident is supposed to have occurred in international airspace...not China's airspace. So, why are their jets pussying around our plane? They may know what the plane is and what it's doing there but maybe they wanted this whole incident to happen so they could get their hands on our equipment and cause an incident to make us look bad. Already, they are comparing this to the Chinese embassy bombing in Baghdad.

At the very least, no judgement should be made until the facts are in. If China wants to handle them as spies, then they should just shoot them all after interrogation. Let's see how far that gets them. I don't agree with positioning 3 naval destroyers over there...like their going to do anything. Maybe they fire a tomohawk missile at the spy plane and blow it up? That would take some serious balls to do that. We know their not going to attack. So, what the hell is the purpose of putting them there. Offensive posturing will only cause more harm than good.

I do know that Bush is one big goat. My God...everywhere I look he is being ripped to shreads. The guy just took office and, already, he is verbally blasted more than Saddam Insane..err...Hussein. I don't recall other presidents having such a rough go of it so early in office. I wonder if Gore would have run into the same flames?

If we are spying on the Chinese(which we are), then why couldn't they board a plane that landed on their turf. I mean...what would we do. Sure, honor the sovereign territory of the other nation. I don't believe it. If the crew did their job, there should be nothing to worry about. If they did not, then we share some spy technology probably.

Who's right? The US isn't always right but certainly a communist regime with a sour history behind it isn't right either. Maybe we should let Russia mediate! DOH!!!!

Surf

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Most conservatives credit Ronald Reagan with ending the cold war. Will they give Dubya the credit he deserves for starting it up again?

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"Blues is a Healer"
--John Lee Hooker

 

surfguy,

I've read your post three times and I can't work out what your point is or who's side you're on

If the plane was in international airspace they can do all the spying they want - nothing illegal about that. The Chinese have no right to detain the personnel or the aircraft.

I hadn't heard about moving three destroyers into the vicinity. I agree that that is unnecessary and antagonistic. It will achieve nothing for surely they will not launch any offensive against China.

As for Bush - have a look at ANY of the previous presedent's first few months in office - they all engage in some form of military show of force, just so the world knows the new kid on the block won't get pushed around. Clinton did it too.

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Maybe all the rulers are wrong.
Current Rocket's Salary & Contract Info

 

The destroyer thing confused me too, but I found the story in today's chronicle. The three destroyers were in transit through back to the U.S., returning from their normal patrol areas. The navy ordered them to remain deployed in the area until the situation is resolved.

My guess, is that they want to keep a close eye on the area -- both to make sure the aircraft isn't moved and in case any other problems develop. It seems like a precautionary move in any case -- if the US wanted to be threatening, they would park a carrier off the coast.

The situation is complicated by the fact that China just doesn't play ball by the rules of the rest of the world. They don't acknoledge the normal international waters limits. They percieve Tiawan as part of their country, "occupied" by rebels. They have proclaimed the South China Sea as "historic territorial waters." So while the aircraft (and ships) were in international waters -- China says they were in China.

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Stay Cool...

 

China sucks for stonewalling. Who's side am I on? I'm an American. I was trying to be objective about it but China is being uncooperative so F them. I'm ready to die for my country right now. Let's let the nukes fly. I'm sick of government games and if they want to treat this like a war holding our people captive, then I'm ready to do something about it even if it means death and the end of us all. Aren't we just waiting for that day of nuclear annihilation to come anyway? It's just a question of with whom and when. It'll come. Why not now?

Maybe I'm overreacting a little...but Bush seems pretty pissed off. Maybe he is ready for a war.

Surf

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[This message has been edited by Surfguy (edited April 02, 2001).]

 

Bush just seems like the dumb president in a Tom Clancy book, maybe the best way to solve is to get Jack Ryan in to solve the problem

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"Repression never did me any harm (I finally ceased to include "stop masturbating" as one of my guilt ridden New Year's resolutions, but that's a different topic)." Achebe - programmer by day, Mrs Palmers Husband by night

 

Yeah, but Ben Affleck is Jack Ryan now. I wouldn't trust Ben Affleck to water my plants while I was out of town.

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Houston Sports Board

 

I don't wanna die. Peace! Dos dedos! I love America! Damn Communists!

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"...just because a clever person can complicate the discussion about the truth doesn't necessarily mean he or she is making any progress in finding it."

[This message has been edited by Frank Black (edited April 02, 2001).]

 

All I know is that I've been staying away from anything made in China. My mouse is was made in China, Nike shoes made in China, and all kinds of other crap. It is mind boggling how many things made in China are in the American market. The spyplane incident has nothing to do with it either.

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"UNBEATABLE"

 

This is just another reason to take out your assault rifle and start cleaning it!!!

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I'm just a nut, trying to get a squirrel!

 

This is just another reason to take out your assault rifle and start cleaning it!!!

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I'm just a nut, trying to get a squirrel!

 

I'll be they are tearing apart the plane right now.

I think the US destroying the plane is -- or could have been -- a real possibility. Unfortunatlely, they know that we won't do anything as long as they hold the crew. They are purposely dragging out negotiations, giving them time to remove the "guts" of the plane. They can return the plane itself when they get ready.

The media hasn't seemed to tie this into the other recently announced situation -- Bush is considering giving final approval of the sale of 4 Arliegh Burke class destroyers to Tawian, equipped with the Aegis missile defense system. Clinton did not approve the sale last year, but we do have a treaty with Tawian which says we will provide them with the means to defend themselves against China. Since China has been building up a supply of missiles along the coast across from Tawian, the sale is likely to be approved. Bush said he would consider not approving (delaying) the sale if China would reduce the number of missiles deployed.

Now China has 'accidentally' obtained a plane full of sensitive equipment, and 24 hostages. This could turn into a real incident. Hopefully, we won't see a repeat of the Iran hostage situation.



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Stay Cool...

 

We'd keep it!

Also, the plane is on a Chinese island. Do you seriously want to fire on China?

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(===)

 

In my extensive readings (Clancy, Brown, Forsythe ) I understand that high tech planes like the one in question have emergency procedures that destroy/jettison all the sensitive equipment if they are about to fall into enemy hands. Lets hope they had time.

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Maybe all the rulers are wrong.
Current Rocket's Salary & Contract Info

 

Well, it looks like a very long standoff is in order. The Chinese demand an apology but America is not about to give one. So, our 24 crew are basically...what...prisoners of war.

I do not understand how they cannot at least release the 24 crewmen. We know they have already torn that plane apart like leeches.
How can we apologize for something that we do not have all the data and facts on? Just because China says it was our fault doesn't make it so...both sides have to examine the evidence. This is nothing but a stunt by the Chinese to get us to stop our international spy flights and leave them be to their own devices.

The Chinese government is trying to get the United States to bow down as if were some inferior country to them. We will not do it. If they want this to ruin relations and for us to become enemies possibly leading to a future war, well...their well on their way to accomplishing that goal. The Chinese are very stubborn people.

I figure once this is over we will have some very bad outcomes coming from this incident. Taiwan just may get arms and more. Right now, we are holding our tongues somewhat. Afterwards, I think we are going to be much worse off in relations with China because of the way they have handled this whole situation.

The Chinese government sucks. Plain and simple. We would never hold their personnel if the sides were reversed. As for the plane, who knows?

Surf

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I agree with you, however, it was a US spy plane, spying on China, that landed in China. If it were a Chinese spy plane spying on America and landing at Hobby Airport, it would be a whole different ballgame.


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"Blues is a Healer"
--John Lee Hooker

 

If I was China, I would do the exact same thing. The 24 crewman are a bargaining chip for them.

What else should they do? Just say "oh, you were spying on our country. No big deal, here are your people and plane. You can just continue stealing our secrets." ??

Try to embarrass the hell out of your opponent. Put pressure on them to stop spying. Make them look bad. This is all standard stuff -- any country and any government would do it.

Suppose we caught an Iraqi spy plane with all sorts of information on Iraqi nuclear/chemical/bio technology on it flying around near Washington (but in international waters). Now suppose it had to land in the US for whatever reason. Do you think we'd just let it go?



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http://www.swirve.com ... more fun than a barrel full of monkeys and midgets.

 

Anyone have an opinion as to why the US hasn't countered and said that there is no way that it could have been our fault?

I mean the EP-3E's cruising speed is less than 300 miles an hour. I doubt it could top 325. The Chinese fighter on the other hand, is a lot smaller, infinitely more maneuverable, and it's top speed is well over 1,500 mph.



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stop posting my damn signature

 

Anyone have an opinion as to why the US hasn't countered and said that there is no way that it could have been our fault?

I'm guessing there are two reasons:

(1) It would just serve to heat up more rhetoric. China could care less because they have the sympathy factor on their side (lost a pilot, US spying on THEM, etc) but I think it would hurt us.

(2) China could simply respond "how do you know?" since we don't have all the facts. Stating for sure that it wasn't our fault is a dangerous thing to do if there's a small chance it was, in fact, our fault.



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http://www.swirve.com ... more fun than a barrel full of monkeys and midgets.