Agrees with the general consensus here and is very glad we did not end up at war with China!

Have some serious doubts about accounts of the actual incident as there is so much speculation, however it is a fact that the P3 was on auto pilot, that the F8 made a HOTSHOOT pass beneath a Wing and that there was an accident.

If all it took to get the P3 crew home was the words 'we are sorry' then that should have been the very first thing that was done! So I give no credit to the W H for it's late action, rather want to know why it took so long?

I read with some relish that there is a Chinese Retaurant owner who begun his immigrant life in the USA in Arkansas and who became the butt end of many false accusations by Rush Bumraw and Co respectively, and this man could have saved our butts with just a few carefully selected meetings which would have resulted in a quiet resolution of the incident, no apologies needed since every one involved knew and agreed on the facts. But no the Republcian Ditto Heads who do not think for themselves could not do this without the required guidance of the Old Bores of Washington, Lott et al.

What are they now? Discredited and shown for what they really are a bunch of racist right wing loonies.

I think of Margaret Thatcher with some pain and rarely agree with her claims and ideas but I do agree with one thing she recently said. 'China is a problem'

Again one word is all it takes and here it is. Tibet. This nation was annexed and invaded with little or no press reporting, perhaps the lack of juicy natural resources had a great deal to do with the silence, but what really scares the bejeebers out of me is that Corporate America is the source of this kind of selective 'Rights Wars'. See Desert Storm for clarification!

In a way it is almost certain that sooner or later the USA may have to restrain these kinds of annexations and I am willing to bet the Spratleys would be the flash point, however if China continues to open up it may never happen as prosperity will fill China with all that they need and a fat cat is always a happy one.