The Spark

the Voice of
The Communist League of Revolutionary Workers–Internationalist

“The emancipation of the working class will only be achieved by the working class itself.”
— Karl Marx

US Spying on China:
What Nonsense!

Apr 23, 2001

Up until now, the U.S. has been unable to get its spy plane back. China, they say, is being unreasonable.

After all, according to U.S. leaders, the spy plane was only on "a routine surveillance mission."

But imagine what would have happened if the situation had been reversed: imagine that a high-tech Chinese spy plane had been flying "routine surveillance" less than a hundred miles off the U.S. coast, using high-tech listening devices, photographic equipment, etc. Imagine that a Chinese plane was caught mapping the U.S. radar and communications systems, gathering the information needed in order to send in bombers and missiles to destroy U.S. cities. Imagine that China had the same enormous military presence surrounding the U.S. that the U.S. today has all around China.

Or imagine that Libya or Iraq, for example, sent planes this close to the U.S.–or that Cuba sent any kind of aircraft like this up to Washington D.C.

We know what would happen, and it wouldn’t have been handled as politely or the way China handled it. It seems that the most powerful imperialism in the world, which possesses the most advanced military satellites, believes that it is the only one which has the right to spy.

It’s certainly a bit hypocritical–to say the least!