This incident did not happen. Nothing near it. But this is what China feels like right now, in the 21st century, after the recent, similar spy plane incident. What is amazing is the vehement language the U.S. has used in describing the situation.

The Incident

In the late hours of March 31st, Eastern Standard Time, an American spy plane carrying a crew of 24 servicepeople collided with one of two Chinese fighter planes sent to intercept it. This incident occurred over the South China Sea near islands claimed by several countries, including China. U.S. commentators consistently neglect to mention that national sovereignty and territorial integrity are at issue here. Rather, Bush made a strong statement within hours warning China of severe consequence if the detainees were not released immediately. The press began lopsided coverage even though they did not know at that time what actually happened, who was at fault. Bush made no mention of the downed Chinese plane until the next to last paragraph of his statement, and then talked only of his offer to help locate the pilot. He did not express any sympathy for the likely loss of a human life.

International law says that in cases like this, personnel should be returned immediately. It is naïve, however, to think that America would have followed the rule had China invaded its space and the U.S. lost a fighter. The Chinese people already deeply resent, rightly or wrongly, Western "imperialists." It is unreasonable to blame China for not doing something that would be detrimental to its prestige, at least in the eyes of its subjects.

Unjustified Public Opinion

Internet chatrooms began buzzing with talks of a full-scale war between the two nuclear powers. That the servicepeople were treated well and escaped injury did not register in the minds of most Americans. Would they have reacted in a similar way had a Chinese spy plane collided with an American fighter, causing the latter to crash? Of course not. It would have been spun by the press as an outrageous act of war, and simply returning the military personnel without exacting demand or apology would be considered magnanimous of our administration.

The outpouring of anger by Americans was lamentable. Whoever was wrong in flight, respect for human life should have been shown by a people that champions human rights around the world. That Reuters and AP devoted no more than one sentence in any article during the first few days to the Chinese pilot contrasted sharply with the concern they had shown for the two American pilots who were lost in Scotland just a few days before. Just as they showed no respect for Wen Ho Lee during his 9-month-long solitary confinement over a fake spy scandal while treating the dozen-Russian-spy story as routine news, the American media failed again to learn from overt racism.

Still smarting from the embassy bombing in Yugoslavia, Sino-American relations faced another test over this incident. Whereas Clinton apologized swiftly for the U.S. mistake, Bush toed the hard line drawn by conservatives. Not surprisingly, when right-wingers like Garry Bauer denounced any remotely conciliatory remark as disgracing the U.S., the White House spokesman Ari Fleischer promised not to say sorry just a day before the agreement to release the Americans was reached. The Weekly Standard, a conservative journal, lambasted Bush for expressing regret for the loss of the pilot, saying it showed weakness. Ari Fleischer repeated that the United States had no intention of apologizing even if an investigation into the crash revealed U.S. errors.

China insisted on an apology, but took the initiative in freely translating the official U.S. response to make it seem like the U.S. deeply regret the loss of its pilot. That is a far more flexible position than Americans have given it credit for. While the Chinese media decried America’s unrepentent and inhumane attitude, Reuters kept serving warnings from U.S. officials of dire predictions that range from suspension of trade privileges to diplomatic retaliations — all over a crew of healthy people who escaped the fate of a pilot these same officials wasted no time in denigrating.

While the news of Cuban spies who disclosed agent identities received shrugs, suspicions about Chinese-Americans flare up every time an alleged incident is disclosed. As we have yet to see a conviction, this attitude is totally uncalled for. It reveals deep prejudice in America, prejudice that motivated 40% of South Carolina and Alabama voters to vote to keep their interracial marriage ban on the books in 1998 and 2000, respectively. It is high time for America to examine its attitude. An apology for its recent behavior would be a good start.

An online shrine of sorts for Wang Wei can be found here.