Who is at fault for the Hainan Island incident?
Over international airspace, a Chinese aircraft nudged up next to an American aircraft. Sure enough, they scraped against each other. Both planes went down. The American crew survived by making an emergency landing on Hainan Island. The Chinese pilot is missing and presumed dead.
“Why was the American aircraft buzzing around Hainan in the first place?”
The American aircraft was making a routine trip over international waters. It is common practice for countries to fly around each other’s territory to keep an eye on what they’re up to.
“Hainan Island is part of China’s sovereign territory. What gives America the right to intrude upon Chinese airspace?”
It did not. At the time of incident, the American aircraft was about 70 miles from Hainan’s coastline. A country’s territorial waters and airspace only extends 12 nautical miles from its coastline. The American plane was nowhere close.
“Who rammed who first?”
The Chinese. The American aircraft was flying in a routine and predictable pattern. It was the Chinese aircraft that decided to sidle up next to the US aircraft.
Play stupid games, win stupid prizes. Sure enough, before too long the planes scraped up against each other and went down. The Chinese pilot didn’t make it. The PLAAF had sent an innocent man to his death for no reason.
“Why would China do such a thing?”
I can only see two possibilities. One is simply incompetent manslaughter. The other is far more nefarious.
Possibility 1: incompetence.
Maybe the commander in charge was new on the job and didn’t know about international airspace. Maybe he was feeling particularly irritable. Maybe there was some problem with their radar systems and they thought the America aircraft was much closer than it was. Who can say.
Possibility 2: establish new precedent.
A more sinister possibility is that the Chinese command thought it could bluff its way into establishing a new precedent and setting China above international law. While other countries adhere by the 12 nautical miles rule, perhaps the Chinese command thought China could be an exception if it pushed the envelope hard enough. If it was willing to play such dangerous games 80 miles away from its coast, then perhaps no one would dare approach any closer to their territory.
There is no definitive proof either way. We are left to our own conspiracy theories on this one.
