China Comments The Right Way Editorial If it wasn't such a serious issue, the irony of the American surveillance plane being forced down while in international airspace on APRIL FOOLS DAY would be laughable. For years, during the schemes concocted by the Clinton/Gore administration, we found the liberals in a constant state of bowing down to the growing threat of Chi-Com intrusions and espionage. From John Huang delivering million-dollar outright BRIBES to the democratic party on behalf of the People of China, to the cover-up at the Los Alamos laboratories, Clinton consistently embarassed himself and the country through his inept handlng of international affairs. Worse, he set a standard on which hostile forces judge us. Now that the has left the barn, the door is not only still open, but practically broken off and we find it increasingly difficult to deal with affairs involving China. In recent months, our military pilots have reported increasing levels of harassment from Chinese fighter jets over mutually-recognized international waters. What began as formal interception has become hair-raising fly-bys and brainless stunts by inexperienced and over-confident Chinese "pilots". The recent downing of our BILLION dollar high-tech surveillance plane is a perfect example of what happens when the new bully on the block is allowed to keep bullying. American surveillance aircraft have overflown the waters between China and Taiwan regularly for some time maintaining a watch on Asian developments. The dispute arises as China has claimed 200 miles of waters as an exclusive economic zone and therefore prohibited airspace. The rest of the world views it as international airspace and not subject to restriction. As China builds it's military might designed to establish world superiority as well as for an anticipated thrust at Taiwan, we've begun to see more friction between the military forces in the area. Cameras fitted on our aircraft have photographed these "incidents" with Chi-Com jets at close range. Pictures of the faces of the pilots have been taken and not surprisingly, the downed Chi-Com pilot is a regular in the harrassment schemes. While the loss of human life is regretable in any incident, the fact that this pilot is down and still missing is not the fault of the United States, but rather is the result of China being allowed to continue to make bolder moves in the chess game playing out in the air over the Asian theatre. A Chi-Com pilot assuming ocean water temperature is a mere statitic when compared to his negligence touching off an international incident. Of course, one can always wonder, was there actually a pilot on board this craft or was it remote controlled and the intent was to cause an incident? If it was occupied and it went down, wouldn't the wingman have stayed with his downed buddy until a rescue could be effected? While likely there was a pilot, following is an excerpt from the Washington Times: "'I must tell you that the intercepts by Chinese fighters over the past couple of months have become more aggressive to the point that we felt they were endangering the safety of the Chinese and American aircraft,' Admiral Blair said. Defense officials said the threatening encounter between a Chinese warship that aimed its fire control radar at a U.S. Navy surveillance ship March 24 was at first thought to be an isolated event, caused by a local Chinese commander acting independently, the officials said. But after Sunday's midair collision between the EP-3, defense officials now say the activities are part of a pattern of aggressive actions by the Chinese military that are part of a larger political program" So, what we have here is a pattern of increasingly bold and threatening actions by an obviously hostile military force, aimed at intimidation and stretching boundaries to see just how far they can go without reaction. In this most recent encounter the pilot, Wang Wei (apply pronounced Wong Way), approached our aircraft from the rear and suddenly flew under in such close proximity that the propeller of our aircraft cut his fighter in two. Along with whatever negotiations may be taking place, additional surveillance flights, escorted by fully armed fighters should be taking place in exactly the same airspace in greater numbers. Not too many years ago, a full battle group would have sailed into the general area and began a practice "excercise" as well. Now is not the time to back down and allow the Chi-Coms to continue their aggressions. They are still a weaker military power and must be reminded of this - often. The time for playing games is OVER. China has had ample opportunity to rattle their sabre, claim violated airspace, American aggressions, etc.. It's time for our people to come home. The aircraft is history and we can only hope that the crew succeeded in destroying the most sensitive data and equipment before the Chi-Com Pirates boarded their aircraft. More importantly, the criminal players in this game of blink would have to make careful considerations before again attempting to take such an enormous bite out of world relations. Especially when they have so much to lose. Or perhaps Jimmy Carter and Bill Clinton can go to Beijing, exude their southern charm and win over the Chi-Coms that way?