China Cuts It Close To US Fighter Jet

China claimed that the US was in Chinese territory when we were actually over international waters. China's jet got close enough to cause turbulence in the US jet with it's airstream. Jack and Joe discuss what the reason may be for the US not being louder about this. 

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:06):
But the Chinese say the US plane had deliberately intruded
on a training exercise.

Speaker 2 (00:11):
It's not the first close call like this.

Speaker 1 (00:14):
Last December Pentagon video shows a Chinese fighter apparently coming
within twenty feet of an American plane. These close encounters
reflect a basic disagreement over who controls the airspace over
the South China Sea.

Speaker 2 (00:28):
China says it does.

Speaker 1 (00:30):
The US and its allies say no one does, and
American military planes routinely patrol it to support the position
that it's open to all.

Speaker 2 (00:40):
Interesting. I don't know what's going on there. What does
China think we'll back Like I said yesterday, I don't
get the game. I know this has been going on always,
the Soviets did it, but still I've never quite understood
it is that we're not going to back off.

Speaker 3 (00:55):
Yeah, I guess it's just classic tough guy behavior. Seemed ridiculous.

Speaker 4 (01:00):
People in the chest and not throwing elbows. That's right,
But isn't the old thing. You know, who's the really
tough guy in the bar? You know, the Navy seal
over there is doing nothing and saying nothing. Not the
guy who's like poking people in the chest. So what's
the point of the whole poking people in the chest thing.
Maybe you've answered the question. They want to give off
an aura of strength and then belligerence to cover up

(01:24):
the fact that they're vulnerable. I don't know that's a
good question.

Speaker 2 (01:27):
So maybe we'll have to ask Mike lyones that at
some point. But so China's buzzing our planes like that
and trying to claim a part of the ocean is
theirs that doesn't belong to them, and all that. But
as we've been talking about for a week, we have
no back channel communications between our militaries now, which we
had always even at the worst of the Cold War.

Speaker 3 (01:49):
With the Soviets'.

Speaker 2 (01:51):
That is an unappreciated story, I think.

Speaker 3 (01:54):
I would agree. Yeah, yeah, those lines exist to prevent
terrible accidents or unintended escalations. That's sort of thing, so
that our chief can call their chief and say, hey, dudes,
are you actually attacking or what's going on? Anyway? Yeah,
it could be getting back to your original question, It
could be just a question of wearing your opponent down,
of saying this is our airspace, this is our airspace, No,

(02:16):
this is our airspace, until finally somebody backs off. Not
that we are not that we will nor the free world.
There's no way we can. They would run rough shod
over us the minute we showed weakness. But oh well,
six simper tyrannus. Well, that's actually what John Wilkes Booth said,

(02:37):
wasn't it something like that? Yeah, so always for tyrants
or something like that.

Speaker 2 (02:44):
Yeah, death tyrants or something.

Speaker 3 (02:47):
Anyway, always this way for tyrants or something. This way
for tyrants, half off tyrants. They only who ordered the tyrants. Job, Joe,
it's Joe, John. Did you order tires