Last week, when China at the last minute cancelled the USS Kitty Hawk’s planned Thanksgiving Day stay in Hong Kong, the aircraft carrier turned around and steamed to Japan.
Behind them, the 8,000 American airmen and sailors left many of their families, who had flown from all over the world to meet them for the Nov. 22 port of call. The Communists may have scrubbed the holiday party because of President Bush’s Oct. 17 meeting with the Dalai Lama.
What wasn’t known until yesterday was the route the Kitty Hawk took back to Japan. It cut through the Taiwan Strait, between Communist China and the island of democratic Taiwan.
‘Operational necessity.’ Generally, U.S. ships avoid the Taiwan Strait because China’s totalitarian regime claims Taiwan as part of Communist China, in spite of the fact that the Communists have never ruled Taiwan. The Communists don’t like to see U.S. warships in that area.
The U.S. Navy pointed out that the Kitty Hawk’s route was far enough from both mainland China and Taiwan to be in international waters.
Navy spokesman Shane Tuck added:
“This was a normal navigational transit of international waters, and the route selection was based on operational necessity, including adverse weather.”
A peaceful invasion? When President Nixon agreed in 1972 to accept Communist China into the United Nations as “one China” with authority over both the mainland and Taiwan, the Communists and the Americans reached an understanding that the mainland government could pursue a reunification with Taiwan, but only by peaceful means.
Nevertheless, China has been building up its army and navy, and appears to have been training for a Taiwan invasion. Once next year’s Beijing Olympics are over, that invasion could happen at any time.
If the Communists do invade, the Kitty Hawk won’t be able to navigate the Taiwan Strait so quietly. Trade with China would shut down. It would be a shock felt around the world.
Frank Warner
Update: The Chinese Communists also have rejected the request of the USS Reuben James, a 200-sailor frigate, to stop at Hong Kong on New Year’s Eve. It makes you wonder if they’ll invite all those tourists to the Olympics, but send all the non-Chinese athletes home just before the games begin.
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