A San Francisco-based American lawyer, in an article for the US-China Peoples Friendship Association (USCFA), called his country to end spy flights along China's coast and stop arming Taiwan.
David Ewing, also vice-president of the USCFA San Francisco chapter, said that he was in China the day when the US spy plane incident occurred and returned home the same day that the spy crew left China for Guam. During those days, Ewing said, he spoke to dozens of Chinese people about the incident.
"There was no hostility toward the American people, but everyone was concerned about the fate of the Chinese pilot, Wang Wei, and people were clearly angry about the unprovoked aggressive military posture the United States takes toward China," wrote Ewing about the people he spoke to in China.
"In my view," he said, "China is right to blame the US for the loss of life and the violation of China's sovereignty."
"I think China has shown enormous restraints over what really amounts to an attack on its territory," Ewing said. "The spy flights must end now. And the US must stop arming Taiwan. The Shanghai Accord between the US and the P.R.C. (the People's Republic of China) recognize Taiwan as a part of China. It is a violation of this treaty for the US to ship any arms to Taiwan."
He noted that in the negotiations over the spy plane incident, the United States used the threat of a big new shipment of Aegis Destroyers to Taiwan as a bargaining chip.
"This is the wrong time for the US to threaten China," he warned. "The people I spoke to in China seemed willing to accept any kind of sanction that the US cares to impose in order to protect their freedom and independence. I doubt that future military threats along their border, or in Taiwan, are likely to shake China resolve."
Ewing also said that he was surprised by the hostile spin the American press has put on the incident. He said that the view from Asia is very different, citing an article in the Straits Times, Singapore's major newspaper, by American writer Llewellyn Rockwell Jr.
According to Rockwell, the collision between the US spy plane and the Chinese jet occurred along China's border. The US claims it was in "international airspace," but backs up this claim with a rule arrived at unilaterally by the US government and accepted by no one else. The US makes up rules to justify its behavior, rules that it does not accept if they are applied against its territory.
(Eastday.com 04/21/2001)
