Diplomacy

Write for The Iranian Editorial policy

Bully in the china shop
Severe case of American amnesia

April 9, 2001
The Iranian

This morning I awoke to the screaming headline in my local newspaper "Legal specialists seeking to find precedent." One legal expert after another was bemoaning the lack of legal precedent to cover the circumstance of the American EP-3 spy plane and its crew, who landed their damaged aircraft on a Chinese island.

As described by American and Chinese sources, the plane and its crew, operating in international airspace, were engaged in "intelligence gathering" against China. Lack of precedent? Unlikely.

The plane, an electronic reconnaissance spy plane, and its crew were spying against China. That is the only one of two legally significant facts. That they were operating in international airspace is irrelevant to their fate under Chinese and international law. The second legally significant fact is that they ended up in the hands of the Chinese nemesis.

What happens to spies who get caught by their nemesis? On May 1, 1960, the Soviet Union, much to its own surprise, shot down an American U-2 spy plane, which had been on a reconnaissance flight very high above the Soviet Union's airspace.

Prior to that, in fact, the U-2 boasted operational capabilities that put it virtually in the atmosphere, beyond the Soviet jurisdiction or ability to reach it. But shit happens, and it did on May 1. The pilot of the plane, Francis Gary Power, was captured, tried of espionage, and convicted to 10 years in prison. He was released in 1962, however, in exchange for the Soviet spy Rudolf Abel.

What we have here, therefore, is not a lack of precedent. We have a severe case of American amnesia, which is a possibility in this sound-bite culture with a very short memory span, and a bush-league president who only a few weeks earlier bullied the Chinese prime minister over Taiwan and other issues. Now the president seeks the immediate release of the crew and the plane, stating that there will be no room for an Amercian apology.

This last point is well-taken. The Bush Adminsitration has exhausted its apology quota: Most if not all of it went to the Japanese government and the families of the victims of the sinking of the Japanese teaching boat that was rammed by the U.S. submarine in international waters off Hawaii.

Understandably, the U.S. and Chinese governments have been coy in labeling the matter as an espionage case. This is because no one in Washington or Beijing seems to have the stomach for the dire legal consequences that flow from that label. Calling this EP-3 Affair a spy case -- which it really is -- would complicate everyone's life. Nevertheless, if the EP-3 Affair ends in any a more favorable way than the U-2 Affair, the United States should thank China for its magnanimity and forbearance.

It used to be, at least in the cloak-n-dagger lore, that the last act of a spy before getting caught was to bite down on the cyanide pill and leave his nemesis to ponder what secrets he was taking to the grave with him. Times sure have changed.

Author

Guive Mirfendereski is a professorial lecturer in international relations and law and practices law in Massachusetts.

Comment for The Iranian letters section Comment to the writer Guive Mirfendereski