Chinese Airlift Rescue, America Suspicious --Madeleine Norton, 4th period

On Monday a military jet from China landed on a man-made island in the South China Sea. Their reasoning? To pick up three desperately ill workers and send them to immediate care. However, it seems that this recent activity has alerted American officials, and not for the reasons one would expect.

Jamie Crawford of CNN reported just yesterday that the Fiery Cross Reef (so the jet was named), drew suspicion from the government due to the nature of the craft. Crawford reports, "'We're aware that a Chinese military aircraft landed at Fiery Cross Reef on Sunday in what China described as a humanitarian operation to evacuate three ill workers,' Pentagon spokesman Capt. Jeff Davis told CNN in a statement. 'It is unclear why the Chinese used a military aircraft, as opposed to a civilian one.' The United States, along with the Philippines have voiced continued concern over China's establishment of man-made islands in portions of the South China Sea, one of the world's busiest sea lanes for commerce, in areas claimed by the Philippines and thousands of miles from the Chinese mainland. There has been particular apprehension over Fiery Cross Reef -- one of China's man-made islands in the Spratly Island chain -- after the Chinese constructed a runway long enough to accommodate large military aircraft." However, Crawford also noted that the Chinese answered that, simply, that their jet was one of the first to land on the newly constructed airlift draw up on the man-made island. "The airstrip, which extends 1.8 miles, was completed this year on reclaimed land around the reef. So far," Crawford observes, "two civilian aircraft made test flights to the airstrip in January. China described the latest landing as a rescue mission that are part of the military's 'fine tradition' and said that the action was 'not at all surprising' since they had conducted it on the country's own territory, said Kang at a briefing Monday."



What is to be believed? How will time play out if more military crafts land on the strip? Could it be possible that China is choosing now to finally take control of the South China Sea regions; a region once always shared with her fellow Asian countries? Or could America just be too suspicious for its own good? Is China telling the truth?
This can be synthesized with the splitting of East and West Berlin, where disputes about loyalty and dividing land both sides seemed to share created enormous tension. And where sneaky or not-so-sneaky tactics were used to further divide the sides, one trying to manipulate the other.

Article located here: http://www.cnn.com/2016/04/18/politics/chinese-military-jet-lands-on-island/index.html