Why should they worry? With Obama at the helm backing down has become an art form.
Of course, the regime now in control of the territory once known as “the United States of America” will back away from confrontation, and in in the vacuum created, the adversary simply moves in to occupy the now vacated position.
Contrast this with the early days of the Bush Administration, in April 2001, when Chinese fighters began hazing an electronic reconnaissance flight over international waters between the Philippines and the South China coastline, resulting in a collision over the south China Sea between a U.S. Navy EP-3E reconnaissance plane and a People’s Liberation Army naval F-8 fighter that crashed.
The Navy plane, badly damaged but still airworthy, turned back toward the Philippines, and the pilot put the hammer down. But the damage only allowed a limited airspeed, even with the turboprops wound out and sweating oil. The other Chinese planes in the squadron surrounded and forced the Navy plane to turn to Hainen Island just off the Chinese coast, where it was landed and the crew taken into custody.
It was a tense period, but the measure was taken in full by George W. Bush, and the matter was resolved without further escalation, the crew, and eventually the airplane, returned to the US.
I cannot imagine the Current Occupant ever showing any such resolve.
“Why should they worry? With Obama at the helm backing down has become an art form.”
You’re absolutely right. There’s not a chance in hell that Buckwheat would go to war with China over ANYTHING, and the whole world is well aware of that fact.