-Caveat Lector-
Lessons Of The China Incident
April 25, 2001 by: Phyllis Schlafly
The incident in the China sea has made it clear to those who did not
want to admit it that China isn't a strategic partner after all. Even Rep.
Henry Hyde, chairman of the House International Relations Committee,
said on Meet the Press that it's clear that China is an "adversary" and
"not a strategic partner."
Other labels range from competitor to hostile antagonist or even potential
enemy. Ordinary Americans who refused to buy Chinese-made goods
from K-Mart realize this even if the politicians don't.
Just imagine how differently events would have unfolded if our plane had
been patrolling the English Channel or the Mediterranean. There would
have been no armed entry to the downed and disabled plane, no
hostages, no worries about whether our crew or plane would be allowed
to come home.
Of course, the Chinese pilot was operating under military instruction to fly
as close as he could and harass our plane. The Chinese do not allow
hot-shot pilots to make their own decisions about creating an
international incident.
It wasn't any accident. The video showed by Secretary of Defense
Donald Rumsfeld proved that this was at least the second incident of
close-flying harassment, and this time the Chinese pilot came in close
enough to flash his e-mail address to the Americans.
Secretary of Defense Rumsfeld made it clear that the U.S.
reconnaissance plane was "flying straight and level" on autopilot, "and it
did not deviate from the straight and level path until it had been hit by the
Chinese fighter aircraft." Since the U.S.plane was a slow flying propeller
plane and the Chinese aircraft was a fast fighter jet, it's clear which plane
had the greater speed and maneuverability to avoid a collision.
Rumsfeld said that the crew made some 25 to 30 attempts to send
distress signals to alert Hainan Island that the U.S. plane would be forced
to land. It is ridiculous to assert that the Chinese on Hainan Island were
surprised at the "invasion" of their airspace because the U.S. plane was
immediately greeted by armed troops.
Our EP-3E plane, clearly marked U.S. Navy, was flying a
reconnaissance and surveillance mission in international airspace on a
well-known path that we had used for decades. Many countries perform
similar missions.
Under international agreements accepted by both China and the United
States, China had no legal right to detain the crew or to search the U.S.
plane that was forced to land on Hainan Island. The U.S. plane had the
right to land under a principle called "force majeure" in order to deal with
an incident beyond its control, such as damage from colliding with the
Chinese plane.
Under the 1944 Chicago Convention on International Civil Aviation,
China and the United States are parties which undertake to provide such
measure of assistance to aircraft in distress in its territory as it may find
practicable. There is a traditional right of safe harbor in distress that
goes back to 19th century and even earlier maritime law.
Now that the U.S. crew has told us what really happened, it's clear that
President George W. Bush bent over backwards to accommodate
China's hurt feelings, more than the circumstances warranted. The
Chinese didn't deserve anything that they could construe as an apology,
but since Bush's words got the crew back sooner rather than later,
there's no point in second-guessing him.
The U.S. should cancel the purchase of 618,000 black berets for the U.S.
Army, a contract that should never have been granted to China. Under
the 60-year-old Berry Amendment, military uniforms must be made of
100 percent American components and produced in American factories,
subject to waiver in emergency.
The pressing "emergency" in this case was that General Eric Shinseki
set a deadline of June 14, the Army's 225th birthday, for almost every
soldier to wear a black beret to symbolize the Army's transformation to a
lighter, more agile force for the 21st century. The Army's birthday is
hardly an emergency that justifies bypassing the law.
China's aggressive tailing of our surveillance planes was probably
designed to make us stop our flights as well as arms sales to Taiwan.
They miscalculated. It is more likely that George W. Bush will do the
opposite: continue the flights and approve the sales of advanced missile
destroyers equipped with the Aegis battle management system, diesel
submarines, Patriot missile systems and surveillance aircraft.
Many members of Congress who voted for PNTR last year are having
second thoughts now, and the ones who voted against PNTR have had
their hands and their arguments emboldened.
While our crew was detained in China, Chinese President Jiang Zemin
was on a state visit in South America. It didn't help his cause when he
praised Cuba as "a shining pearl in the Caribbean Sea," and said the
Chinese government "supports the just struggle of Cuba in maintaining
state sovereignty and national independence and opposing against
outside interference and threat."
Phyllis Schlafly column 4-25-01
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
PHYLLIS SCHLAFLY'S SPEAKING SCHEDULE:
FRI. MAY 4: "The Legacy of Clinton's Web of Treaties" Conservative
Women's Network Luncheon. Lecture at Van Andel Conference Center
at The Heritage Foundation, 12:00 noon, lunch provided.
Reservations required by 4-30-01. If you are in the DC area and would
like to attend, please contact Lisa De Pasquale toll free at
1-888-891-4288 or by e-mail.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Read this column online:
http://www.eagleforum.org/column/2001/apr01/01-04-25.shtml
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