I know I should be clearing up the garden, and others have warned me
against watching too much CNN, but the astonishing news has just broken
that there is a damaged US navy plane with 24 uninjured crew, under
Chinese custody on Hainan island!
Perhaps this is just a product of the new realism in Bush's foreign policy.
Perhaps it is part of his strategy to make China the number one world
enemy. But if so, it somehow doesn't have the impact of the Gulf of
Tongking incident. Indeed judging from the studiously nonchalant report
released by an amiable navy spokesman to CNN, even more nuanced than the
main CNN story about the arrest of Milosevic, it looks more like a blunder
than the start of world war three.
As I say, just released (interesting to check whether the time would be
such as presumably to avoid all the Sunday morning US newspapers) it all
sounds a slight mishap among friends. A US navy plane was over the South
China Sea. It was intercepted by two Chinese fighter planes, one of which
had a slight collision with it. The US plane felt obliged to put out a
Mayday call, but was able (or required?) to land on Hainan Island.
When the spokesperson was asked if there is a hotline between Beijing and
Washington to deal with such an incident he replied that both sides are
trying to set this up. Rather quickly one would think.
He expressed studiedly routine assumptions that normal conventions would be
respected between the two states, without a hint of hostility, fear, or
aggression in his pleasant low-key voice.
But one does wonder how the cost of this presumably large US navy plane,
compares with the cost of the Chinese embassy in Belgrade which was blown
up for passing on Yugoslav signals during the Kosovo war.
And perhaps even more interesting, when the Chinese take every detail of
this plane apart bit by bit, will they ask the assistance of, or share the
information with, an ally?
Of course we do not know what is going on off screen. We do not know if
there is a nuclear alert. But as of this morning, the Bush administration
might just have failed to start World War Three.
The US may be the richest, dirtiest, most arrogant, state in the world, but
it cannot always prevent itself looking foolish in front of world opinion.
Chris Burford
London
