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China Gets Credit for Handling of Collision
Credit must go to China for its tolerant and pragmatic handling of the spy plane incident, a diplomatic exercise that prevented a crisis from escalating further. It also sent a strong signal that China is ready to go all-out to defend its sovereignty rights, the Asian media said.
Singapore's English-language Straits Times commended Beijing's handling of the incident, saying its tolerant stance avoided a worse situation.
"The resolution of the crisis brings a win-win situation for both China and the United States," the newspaper said in an article.
"But credit must go to China for defusing a major crisis," the article said.
Reuters wire service cited analysts from Asian media circles who praised Beijing for quickly freeing the 24-member crew of the spy plane on Thursday.
"On the question of which country emerges from this confrontation with greater pride and a better image, I would say that out of 100, China scores higher at 60 versus 40 for the United States," said Suthichai Yoon, group editor-in-chief of The Nation media group in Bangkok.
Analysts agreed that Beijing had played its cards well, according to Reuters.
"Beijing scored a moral victory in the international community by releasing the 24-member US crew for humanitarian reasons," said Chaiwat Kamchu, dean of the Political Science faculty at Bangkok's Chulalongkorn University.
"Although it deserves a formal apology, since justice and the trump card - the US crew - are both on its side, it did not exploit them to the fullest extent," the Singaporean paper said.
Instead, it has allowed some face-saving leeway for the United States, it added.
It said the United States was wrong on several counts: spying on another country; not quitting at the first warning; encroaching on another nation's territory and sabre-rattling after the aircraft collision.
Only under considerable pressure from China did it admit, unwillingly and bit by bit, that it had made mistakes.
Undoubtedly, the peaceful resolution of the crisis could help reverse a downturn in bilateral relations that began taking shape after George W. Bush became US president.
It also allows China to refocus on its economic development, which is its main national priority.
In fact, the approach it is taking to resolve the current crisis shows that the leadership still adheres to the 1993 example of late leader Deng Xiaoping.
That year, the United States accused China groundlessly of shipping chemical weapons to the Middle East and searched a Chinese merchant ship on the high seas. It's known as the Galaxy Incident.
What the United States did was a blatant violation of Chinese sovereign rights, yet Deng decided not to let it distract China from the broader theme of economic construction.
Obviously this policy of conceding minor issues so as to focus on major ones - was also adopted in handling this crisis.
The incident should demonstrate to other Asian countries that a responsible and considerate China should not be feared.
Chaiwat Kamchu, a United Arab Emerates newspaper, said on Thursday that China's position on the Sino-US mid-air collision incident has set a significant example for Arabs and other nations to blunt Washington's arrogance.
"China has achieved what it wanted through insistence as well as challenge and objection to US arrogance," the paper said.
"We (the Arab world) should follow suit in dealing with the United States, as our problems with the United States are more serious than the plane collision stand-off," it added.
Chaiwat Kamchu warned that the United States should refrain from committing other such follies, which will incur antagonism from the Asian people.
On the issue of the pending US sale of weaponry to Taiwan, a province of China, the Straits Times said that if the United States learns by experience that China means what it says, then Bush may devise a more realistic approach towards the Taiwan question.
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