Sandman,
1. We are not arming Taiwan with nuke rockets that can reach the Chinese mainland.
This was Kennedy's stated reason for the "Cuban
Missile Crisis" as it is called.
THAT is the major difference. OFFENSIVE NUKES, not defensive anti-missile cruisers.
2. Many posters give a similar statement to this one of yours:
"If it were a Chinese surveillance aircraft operating in international airspace next to North America, I'm pretty sure our reaction would be strikingly similar to that of China and our aircraft."
This, I hope, is basically because the US and the other "powers" have kept intelligence gathering and surveillance so out of sight that the average citizen has no clue about how it is done, how often or how the nations react.
Just as ONE example, here's the tally from intercepting Soviet intelligence gathering aircraft out of Alaska alone (they were also intercepted in the GIUK gap out of Iceland and along the East Coast of the US during this same period.)
http://www.vfw.org/magazine/apr98/26.shtml "Intercepts grew gradually over the years, peaking in the 1980s. The largest number-33-of Soviet aircraft were intercepted in 1987. On June 16, 1988, two fighter pilots became the first to intercept three Soviet flights in one day. Capt. Richard Von Berckefeldt was the first pilot in Alaska to intercept 10 Soviet aircraft, earning him the Sustained Air Activity Medal (10 intercepts rated the medal). In the last year, 1991, of the Cold War, 15 Soviet planes were found
in U.S. airspace."
Between 1961 and 1991, 306 intercepts of Soviet intruders were made. (The last occurred Sept. 20, 1991, by two F-15s out of Galena Airport.) Altogether, nearly 300 airmen took part in the flights. In the '60s, the 317th Fighter-Interceptor Squadron and rotating units of the Air Defense Command did the honors. Over succeeding decades, the 43rd, 18th and 54th Tactical Fighter squadrons boosted the tally.
Now, search all you like and see if the US ever shot
at or shot
down or even collided with a Soviet Intelligence Gathering Aircraft or a Soviet Commercial Airliner in our ADIZ (This is INTERNATIONAL AIRSPACE, btw) or our Territorial Airspace (12 miles).
I've never heard of or seen a report on such an incident.
Now, contrast this bit of information on shootdowns by Communist-led countries: (Note I've removed the shootdowns of aircraft that were or were arguably close to Territorial Airspace from the list. While these are examples of pointless brutality, they at least were outside the realm of protection by International Law.
http://www.csd.uwo.ca/~pettypi/elevon/gustin_military/shotdown.html 8 April 1950
An US PB4Y-2 Privateer, shot down over the Baltic Sea -- or over Latvia, depending on whether you believe the American or the Soviet version. After this, US aircraft were instructed to stay at least 20 miles from the coast.
6 November 1951
An US P2V-3 Neptune of VP-6 , shot down near Vladivostok by MiG-15s.
29 April 1952
A DC-4 of Air France was shot at by two MiG-15s when approaching Berlin. The aircraft was damaged and three passengers wounded.
13 June 1952
A RB-29 over the Sea of Japan, near Hokkaido.
7 October 1952
A RB-29 over the Kurile Islands.
18 January 1953
A P2V over Formosa Strait.
29 July 1953
An RB-50 over the Sea of Japan. Only one of the 17 crewmembers was rescued, but there are rumours that others were taken prisoners by the USSR.
27 January 1954
An RB-45 flying over the Yellow Sea with an escort of F-86 Sabres was attacked by eight MiG-15s; one MiG was shot down.
July 1954
A Cathay Pacific DC-4 was shot down by Chinese La-9 fighters near Hainan. 10 killed, 8 survived.
26 July 1954
Two AD Skyraiders, looking for survivors from the above mentioned DC-4, were attacked by two La-9s. Both La-9s were shot down.
4 September 1954
A P2V-5 off the Siberian coast. Of the crew of 10, one was killed.
7 November 1954
An RB-29 over the Sea of Japan, north of Hokkaido, lost with its crew of 13.
5 Februari 1955
Two MiG-15s shot down by USAF F-86 Sabres when they attacked an RB-45 over the Yellow Sea
17 April 1955
An RB-47 near Kamchatka, probably shot down by MiG-17s.
22 June 1955
A P2V-5 Neptune was attacked over the Bering Strait. The USA demanded $724,947; the USSR finally payed half.
10 September 1956
RB-50 over the Sea of Japan.
24 December 1957
An USAF RB-57 over the Black Sea.
4 July 1959 or 16 June 1959 ?
A P4M of VQ-1, attacked near to Korean peninsula by MiG-15s. Damaged, one wounded crewmember.
1 July 1960
An RB-47H over the Barentz Sea was downed by Vasili Poliakov. John McCone, the navigator and Bruce Olmstead (the co-pilot?) survived. The pilot, Bill Palm was killed, as were the other three crewmembers (the Elint operators).
5 June 1962
A Swedish ELINT DC-3 shot down over the Baltic.
16 June 1962 A Swedish Catalina looking for the DC-3 lost on June the 5th was shot down too.
27 April 1965
An ERB-47H was damaged by North Korean MiG-17s. It made an emergency landing at Yokota AB, with two engines out.
September 1965
An RB-57F, operated by Pakistan, damaged by an SA-2 over India.
14 December 1965 (1968?)
An RB-57F shot down by a SAM over the Black Sea, near Odessa. The two crewmembers remained missing. Jay Miller states that this happened in 1968; Robert Jackson that it was in 1965.
30 June 1968
A DC-8 over the Kurile islands was forced to land. It was carrying a load of US troops to Vietnam.
15 April 1969
An EC-121M over or near North Korea.
20 April 1978
Boeing 707 from Korean Air Lines. Flew over Murmansk while on a Paris-Anchorage flight. Hit by Su-15 interceptors, crash-landed on a frozen lake.
6 September 1983 October
A Boeing 747 of KAL, shot down over Sachalin by a Su-15. All 269 on board were killed.
24 February 1996
Two (civilian) US-registered Cessna 337 twin-engined aircraft, operated by Cuban exiles, shot down by Cuban MiG-29s.
Now you can add the collision by the F-8 with the EP-3 to the list.
So go ahead and search. Show me the list of surveillance or other aircraft we have shot at or shot down either in our ADIZ or our Territorial Airspace. I don't think you'll even find an instance of our interceptors colliding with anyone.
THAT'S the difference.
