This frequently puzzle me but the latest spat between the US and China has brought it to mind again.
Why do country’s dance around and mince words when talking to each other? More importantly, why do country’s let other country’s get away with blatant BS? <–(BTW: This is the question…the rest is a bit of a rant. If the Mods feel like moving this I apologize for picking the wrong place to post.)
Take the most recent case in China. A Chinese spokesman delivered the following questions and demands (among other):
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…why the aircraft entered Chinese airspace and landed without permission.
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…why the United States conducts frequent air surveillance near the China coast
The answers should go something like this: -
Why should we?
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Hehe…I don’t think so. You want us to believe that a lumbering 4-engine propeller driven plane managed to tag a high performance fighter jet? That’s akin to suggesting an ocean liner ran over a power ski boat. Even a brain dead pilot flying a fighter jet should easily be able to avoid a crash unless that pilot is the one looking to pick a fight. To continue our hypothetical it would be majorly stupid for our speed boat friend to play chicken with the ocean liner.
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Our aircraft entered Chinese airspace because it had been crashed into by some hot-to-trot Chinese fighter jock. Our plane was now in a controlled crash…they really had little choice in the matter. Are you suggesting they wanted to land in China? Do you suppose they thought they could spy on you better from the ground assuming they could sneak their plane in to your airport without anyone knowing? We don’t think so.
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We conduct frequent surveillance down there because you have the habit of lining-up more and more missiles along your coast pointed at our ally. Move your missiles and we’ll consider moving our plane. In the meantime it matters little. That plane has every right to fly in international airspace. Feel free to fly one of your planes 70 miles off of the coast of California if you wish. In the past we’ve had Russian Backfire bombers loaded with nukes making regular passes at us…we’re not going to be spooked by anything you decide to do in this regard. You can also count on our pilots shadowing your plane to not crash into your plane and if for some reason your plane had to emergency land in California you could have it and your crew back forthwith (mostly because you don’t have any technology we give a rat’s ass about).
In summation…give us our damn plane and crew back! You aren’t fooling anyone by this BS beating around the bush and making the US look like the bad guy!