from the bigdumbHoosier Archive
Technology transfer
For the past few days we've been hearing about the U.S. Navy EP-3E spy plane that crash landed on a Chinese island after colliding with a Chinese fighter jet. It's really an unfortunate story, particularly in that the Chinese pilot was apparently killed. But I'm not going to dwell on that part; people get killed at work every day, in coal mines, on construction projects, while commuting. And I'll leave it to pilots to decide who was at fault, though from an earthbound motorist's point of view the story sounds a bit like the tangling of a corvette and a Greyhound bus.
But seeing a picture of the spy plane on the ground in Hainan, apparently stripped of all its gear, made me think about the wonders of technology transfer; it's been said the the U.S. "has stricter controls on technology transfer to China than any other country with which it deals " [source]. One has to wonder if the Chinese reaction isn't mostly a way to deflect attention away from their primary goal - getting some good electronics to copy. And probably improve. So much for controls on technology transfer.
Don't get me wrong; I'm not underestimating the quality of Chinese technology. On the contrary, I imagine about this time next year they'll offer to sell us their new and improved version of the EP-3E at a nifty savings. It's just that it's cheaper to copy technology than it is to develop it from scratch.
Try the curve ball...
Instead of an apology (beyond, condolences for their lost pilot), I'd suggest we send a bill for the equipment. And for our ambassador to China, I'd also suggest a Bill - Bill Clinton. That might get their attention and get things moving the right way, and Republicans could quit obsessing about how much his office costs.
As for the Chinese, I think they'd be impressed by getting an X-POTUS as ambassador. I always suspect that part of our difficulty in relations with the Chinese is that they feel dissed. As a bonus, I think they'd probably be a little bewildered by the political ramifications of an Ambassador Clinton. Typically, the Chinese don't do much when things get murky, probably because their rulers operate mainly by consensus. When they don't do much, that's good, because then nothing bad will happen.
