The provacative Chinese
This Chinese trawler was trying to snag the Impeccable's acoustic array
So the Chinese are up to cheap tricks in international waters. The USNS Impeccable was harassed Sunday in the South China Sea by multiple Chinese boats (read full story on CNN here or on Al Jazeera English Edition here). The ship was in international waters, yet one of the vessels radioed in and ”called her operations illegal and directed Impeccable to leave the area or ‘suffer the consequences’.”
The US ship’s commander asked the Chinese ships by radio “in a friendly manner” for a safe path to leave the area.
Two Chinese boats then moved directly in front of the USNS Impeccable, forcing it to take emergency action to avoid collision (Al Jazeera)
This is disturbing. First off, the ship is generally unarmed, with most of its crew being civilians. The other Chinese vessels also attempted to snag off the underwater acoustic equipment that is the purpose of the ship.
Given the Chinese government’s history of harassing naval ships, and of closing its ports to Navy vessels (and detaining for 11 days the 24 American crew members who had a mid-air collision and crash landed in China), I think our government needs to take some steps. Obviously, in some parts of the Chinese government, diplomacy doesn’t work. The Navy should attach Marines to any vessels that are to be in the sea near China. The original purpose of the Marines were to be on ships and fight of attackers (I.E. Pirates and the British). They are the only true amphibious fighting force in the military. And I promise you any Chinese intelligence boat, trawler, etc. that decides it wants to try to harass an American vessel without regard will think twice after being boarded by a handful of Marines.
Just my thoughts. It is concerning though. The Chinese have been smuggling classified parts out of America for years, probably to reverse engineer them and build up its own military prowess. The plan is simple yet very powerful. Faithful Chinese move to America to work, educated, etc. Although they have not been given any direct orders by the government to steal information, they know they will receive payment for anything they get. Eventually they make contacts, and hopefully manage to leave the country with something good.
A few years back a respectable Chinese man made the wrong contact. It turned out his contact was a UC FBI agent playing a dissident American with access to an F-15 engine. Although I don’t remember the specifics, they had made an arrangement for him to purpose the engine for millions of dollars. Although he was a respectable business man, he wasn’t a millionaire. Where did the money come from? China denies all involvement, obviously.
Of course even bigger threats emerge without the need for millions of dollars and sleeper spies. In February is was announced that the plans for the Marine One helicopter were compromised. Not by a high-tech hacker but via P2P file-sharing software. Absolutely absurd that some idiot with a computer that has sensitive data on it could install file-sharing software! You would think somebody would think “hey, why don’t we put a block on all P2P clients?” Nope. Real geniuses, and these guys get paid the big bucks. The lucky recipient of the plans? Tehran. Yup, one of the biggest enemies to the western world (and Israel), who has been developing nuclear technology while our bastard politicians have been trying to play diplomatic. These guys have the plans for the upgraded presidential helicopter. Genius.
We walk a tight line in this country. Although America is supposed to be a melting pot of cultures, we also have doors open to cultures and individuals whose only intent is to destroy us or steal from us. We could lock the borders tight, but to think of it, that would be truely un-American. What do we do? I don’t have all those answers.
