Relationship demands a new realism
Dr Fuji Kamikase
2001-04-13
AMERICANS everywhere give thanks to God for the safe return of 24
crew members from a U.S. reconnaissance plane that was forced to
land at a Communist Chinese air base April 1.
They also can thank President Bush and his deep team of foreign
policy advisers, who steered their way through the new
administration's first serious overseas challenge with flying
colors -- red, white and blue.
The Americans are back on U.S. soil after 12 days of detention by
the Chinese, which followed a collision between the U.S. aircraft
and a Chinese fighter jet. The damaged U.S. plane made an
emergency landing on China's Hainan Island, and its crew was held
there while Beijing demanded an apology for the incident.
Bush, Secretary of State Colin Powell and National Security
Adviser Condoleeza Rice reacted with neither appeasement nor
inflexibility.
They expressed regret for the loss of the Chinese pilot and
sorrow for the U.S. plane's forced landing. They did not accept
blame for the collision, nor did they give in to the Chinese
demand to end surveillance flights in international airspace over
the South China Sea.
Of course, the communist propaganda machine cut and spliced the
U.S. letter to make it sound like a general apology. And U.S.
officials agreed to future meetings to discuss the cat- and-mouse
games played in the skies by pilots for both nations.
But neither represents the kow-towing Beijing demanded in
exchange for the U.S. crew's release. Bush and his people did not
blink.
With our crew home -- the 26 hours of debriefing they were to
face in some ways figured to be more arduous than the days they
spent in officers' quarters at the Chinese base -- Americans and
their leaders must look ahead to a relationship with China that
is likely to be difficult and complicated but need not be
continually contentious.
The Bush team's response preserved U.S. honor and the right for
our aircraft to fly in international airspace. It allows U.S.-
China relations to proceed, but on a different footing than might
have resulted if the incident had occurred on President Clinton's
watch.
There was, before the incident, a need for a new realism in
America's relationship with China.
The misfortune of the downing of the U.S. plane has the fortune
of galvanizing this necessity in the minds of many Americans, who
after the incident peppered retail outlets like Kmart with
demands to quit selling so many Chinese-made products.
Is this the beginning of a new, more hostile time in relations
with China? It doesn't have to be, although it surely points to a
new view from Washington that is governed by much greater
circumspection.
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God Bless America
Fuji - NRA member
"Nature abhors a moron." - H.L. Mencken
rose...@rapidnet.com
a clue:
>They also can thank President Bush and his deep team of foreign
>policy advisers, who steered their way through the new
>administration's first serious overseas challenge with flying
>colors -- red, white and blue.
What did you think they would do, you dumb asshole
Firing squad, torture, show trials?
This was a kindergartner NO BRAINER
The lives of the Americans after landing was NEVER in danger.
The only "danger" was your coke-addled brain-dead idiot shittin himself in
public.
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