I have read this thread and the other thread on the F-8/P-3 incident with great interest. Sorry to say I have a hard time believing that some people who appear to be fairly intelligent are buying into the dribble the Chinese Government is spouting. First that the P-3 rammed the poor F-8. Secondly that the United States had no business having a military aircraft near China in international airspace over international water. How vehemently anti-American does one have to be to believe the garbage that the Chinese are saying?
I think that a lot of people don't quite understand what the Chinese press (strictly government controlled) is making all the fuss about. They are not making these false, if not outright laughable, incredibly stupid press releases to try to shape world opinion. The Chinese government must publish these type press releases to keep their own people under control. The Chinese could really give a rat's butt about world opinion (well up to a point). Under the Peoples Republic of China (PRC) style of government there cannot be any type of free press, what so ever, period. There also must be a common enemy so that the oppressed citizens of China has their hate focused outward rather than inward against their own oppressive government.
Many other people here at PPRUNE has made many excellent posts about the oppression of the PRC against the average Chinese citizens, and I will not repeat them. I also do understand the average Chinese has been oppressed all throughout history, but that is no excuse in today's enlightened era of communication and global electronic information highways. We the subscribers and users of PPRUNE are proof of the previous statement. PPRUNers share ideas, ideals, philosophy and thoughts from around the world. Wither one is posting in the forums or in the chat rooms one is exchanging with people from all around the world. PPRUNE is just a small (but the best) aviation web site in an unimaginably huge world of Internet communication. But one has to ask a question, how many PPRUNers are from the PRC? As a matter of fact, for you people that surf the World Wide Web, have you ever communicated with an average citizen of the PRC? That was a serious question, I would really like to know.
It is obvious that there is e-mail available to some of the citizens of the PRC. The U.S. Navy film of the Chinese pilot Wei trying to give his e-mail address to another P-3 crew is proof of that. As a matter of fact I feel very sorry about the loss of Wei, it looks like he might have been trying to open up some lines of communications with his fellow pilots from the free world. I also have to wonder what will become of his widow and family now the PRC government has proof that Wei was trying to e-mail U.S. Navy pilots and crewmembers. Sadly we may never know.
The analogy of someone standing on the street looking into some one's home just doesn't hold water. It is an extremely over simplification of the complex world we live in today. Intelligence information gathering activity must maintained by all the free societies of the world against those societies who would oppress the free. It may not be pretty, it may not be nice and it is definitely not PC, but it must be maintained. Sometimes these intelligence information agencies overstep their bounds. When they do, it is the freedom that we who live in free societies enjoy that can and does put them back into their place. When the PRC overstep their bounds who can take them to task? Not the average Chinese citizen, that's for sure.
The Unites States is afraid of China, and we should be. The PRC is a nuclear power, they have the power to take out Japan, South Korea, Thailand, just to mention a few. Let me pose this question? If China invaded Thailand and backed up the invasion with the threat of the use of nuclear weapons would the rest of the free world go to war to free Thailand? My guess is probably not. What about Japan? Hopefully this will never happen. Throughout history China has never been overly aggressive in conquering territories that has not been theirs. It is mandatory that the free world keep tabs on these countries that do not allow the free exchange of information. Some one must have the desire, will and capabilities to undertake these responsibilities. As there is only one super power left in the world, it obviously has to be the United States. Hell, if was left up to me I'd let the French do it. No more Pearl Harbors, the world can't afford it in this day and age.
We who are lucky to live in truly free societies with a free press sometime, justifiably so in certain cases, get very mad at some of the inaccuracies we read and hear about. But, I would much rather live in a country that has a free press that occasionally gets the facts wrong as compared to living in an oppressive country with no free press.
Ok, off the soapbox. I'm going to go have a few beers.