Smith,
I appreciate your opinion. However, this pilot, Wang Wei, had a history of reckless flying and "hotdogging" - I have seen multiple photos and videos (CNN) showing his aircraft (and yes, his ID# has been confirmed) literally a meter or two off of the wing of another P3 cruising in international waters. There is absolutely no excuse for flying that close to a large, slow turboprop. Why not fly 30 meters off the wing? - you make the same point that way...
I don't understand why it is so difficult for people to contemplate the only rational explanation in this case - Wang Wei had a wild history and was reckless - he needlessly flew too close to the P3 and caused a collision that led to an international incident. He had flown too close before, and this time it bit him in the a$$. If I were a Chinese citizen and I had "free" access to this story through the press, I'd be pretty embarrassed - I wouldn't be glorifying a cocky, reckless individual like Wang Wei. But given that so much disinformation has been propogated by the government, most Chinese will NEVER know and instead view him as a martyr. Talk about manipulation of peoples' minds... I'm sure most Chines people still believe that the P3 intentionally collided with the fighter and then forcably landed at an airbase on Hainan - does that make any sense to you? It apparently does to a number of Chinese interviewed on TV... Never any mention in the Chinese press of the 8-10 "mayday" calls from the P3 pilot as the P3 limped to the airbase. I wonder why?
I feel sorry that a pilot had to die in this case, but you need to give credit when credit is due... Not in this case.