Chinese harassment

Posted By Thomas E. Ricks Tuesday, March 10, 2009 - 3:39 PM Share

If we are one month or so into a new American administration, it must be time for Chinese ships or planes to harass U.S. military ships or aircraft operating near Hainan Island.

This strikes me as kind of hokey on the part of Beijing -- more befitting the punks of Pyongyang than a great power.

EXPLORE:CHINA, MILITARY

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WALKING WOUNDED

6:10 PM ET

March 10, 2009

Gulf of where? Reactions based on spot reports are suspect.

The US narrative from the 2001 harrassment, ramming and capture of our E-2 went something like "Red Army militarists test US resolve and drive wedge into Chinese-American agenda"

And that may be true. It certainly pissed me off at the time.

But before buying the same story in 2009, I'd like to see some maps, timeline and history on this latest incident. It occurred near to a coastal island base where their nuclear missile subs operate? How close to their defensively positioned boomers were we pressing our ELINT ships? Were we laying sensors in their water?

Once the facts are known, we might want to consider Chinese behavior against how we might respond. This did occur off their coast, not off Darwin or San Diego, right? 1965 or 1985 containmnet rules might not fit in 2009.

China is not unique in having military industrial components that are competing internally for shrinking defense dollars, highlighting their role against an external threat. The strategic center for the USN war against their near foe, the budget aspirations of junior services and civilians, is right here in this column.

Aside from the Formos Straits prognosis, I do have a long-term concern in Chinese determination to recover territory, from Russia, India et al, that was seized or severed during the revolution and aftermath. China is also not unique in being willing to fight to regain occupied real estate.

History and geography are underserved topics in our education system.

JJACKSON

2:50 PM ET

March 12, 2009

Nothing new here

Power A Monitoring (AKA Spying on) Power B. Power B maneuvering (AKA Harassing) Power A.
The Impeccable can not gather any useful data on the sub movements if it can not tow its array, to frustrate same buzz around vessel drop debris to make it come to a stop so the array is up'n'down - mission accomplished.