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China At Fault in Aircraft Collision

TruthNews Commentary, April 8, 2001

China has stretched the bounds of all credulity with its claim that an American reconnaissance aircraft with 24 crewmen aboard intentionally rammed a Chinese fighter plane. The Chinese undoubtedly caused the accident, and the Chinese claim is that the American plane rammed the communist aircraft is bluster intended to extract concessions from the U.S.

The collision came during a routine U.S. Navy mission to conduct electronic surveillance from international airspace. This was overt, routine surveillance and reconnaissance, which is carried out around the world on a pretty regular basis by a variety of nations.

Two Chinese fighters intercepted the Navy plane. This is a procedure that harks back to the Cold War, in which the interception is for the purpose of warning the surveillance aircraft not to intrude into the defending country’s airspace. Of course, Soviet dictators up through Mikhail Gorbachev would actually have foreign aircraft shot down if they intruded into Russian airspace (for example, KAL 007), so these reconnaissance mission are not without risk to the crewmembers.

Pentagon spokesman Craig Quigley has said there that there have been "several fairly close approaches by Chinese fighters" around U.S. surveillance flights in the past three to four months. "We have expressed our concerns to the Chinese, thinking that they were flying too close, creating an unsafe situation," he said.

Two Chinese fighters intercepted the Navy plane, which is specially modified P-3 Orion aircraft. The P-3 is normally used for antisubmarine warfare, and was developed by Lockheed in the late 1950s. Based on the Lockheed Electra airliner, the P-3 is propeller-powered aircraft with a cruising speed of 400 mph. The Chinese fighter is a supersonic model with a maximum speed of 1,450 mph.

Any scenario in which the lumbering, propeller-driven American plane veered suddenly and crashed into the much faster Chinese fighter is completely implausible. Besides, to anyone who knows anything about aircraft, it is ludicrous to suggest that either plane would have intentionally struck the other. No pilot, especially one flying an aircraft with 23 other crew members, would be stupid enough to risk everyone's lives by hitting another aircraft with his wing and engines.

Any rational interpretation of what happened would conclude that it was an accident, caused by the Chinese fighter pilot. The Chinese pilot’s death is regrettable but the U.S. almost lost a crew of 24 due to the recklessness of the dead pilot.

The attack on the Chinese embassy in Belgrade, with which this incident has been compared, was an American error -- as we acknowledged, and for which we apologized. This time we are not at fault, so President Bush should make no apology. Instead it is the Chinese who are at fault, not only for wrecking our airplane, but also for holding the crew hostage.

Will this incident result in another Iran hostage crisis? It’s unlikely. China relies on its exports to the U.S. to bring in much of its hard currency. In addition, China is trying to become a member of the World Trade Organization and is also bidding on hosting the 2008 Olympics.

The aircraft incident should be a wake-up call to those who think that China can be dealt with as a reasonable nation. There are only two nations on the face of the earth that have nuclear missiles pointed at America, and those nations are China and Russia. Both oppose the proposed national missile defense system specifically because they want to be able to threaten us with nuclear attack. The collision with our reconnaissance aircraft was an accident caused by an incompetent or overly eager Chinese fighter pilot. If the American aircraft had strayed into Chinese airspace, we have no doubt that the Chinese would have shot it down, regardless of WTO or Olympic bids.