Jet spying on China makes for good screenplay

I’ve thought of a great idea for a movie that will just knock your socks
off. It’s got a wonderfully complex storyline that is guaranteed to be
a box office hit.
OK, here’s the plot:
A U.S. military surveillance jet is on a reconnaissance mission over the South
China Sea when it is intercepted by two Chinese jets. As the interception is
taking place, a fatal error is made, resulting in a mid-air collision and the
Chinese jet goes plummeting into the murky waters below. Then the U.S. jet makes
an emergency landing on Chinese soil.
The media are quick to get wind of the incident, which fuels the fires of international
tensions. Then the United States and China start making demands of one another:
The Chinese want to know why the Americans are spying, and the Americans want
their crew released.
When all attempts at diplomatic talks fail, tempers start to rise above the
boiling point as Sino-U.S. relations quickly deteriorate. This is the international
news event of the hour as nations around the world watch in helpless anticipation,
waiting anxiously to see if the world’s biggest superpower and the world’s
fastest-developing, most-populous nation can bury the hatchet.
It may sound like the storyline to a fabulous film, but the sad truth is that
the aforementioned facts are real. And although I would like to take credit
for embellishing the story for dramatic effect, I can’t.
Naturally, you may be wondering what it is like for an American student to be
living in China during this media circus. E-mails from family and friends flooded
my Yahoo! account, to check the status of my mental state.
{Are you scared? Are you being watched? Are you thinking of leaving the country
before your internship is finished? Aren’t you worried about your welfare?”
And, of course I had to answer truthfully, hoping that my response wouldn’t
frighten them more, “No.”
In fact, I don’t care what happens between the two countries, because you
know what? Nothing is going to happen. The Chinese will release the American
crew, the United States won’t explain its espionage, and life will resume
as it once did.
I know it’s hard to believe when you are being barraged with newscasts
and editorials with words like foreign policy, diplomacy, trust, governmental
regulations, flight zones, detainment, interrogations and war. But here on the
flip side, things are relatively calm.
Sure, there are articles that appear every day in China Daily, the country’s
state-owned, English-language newspaper, charging that the United States should
apologize for its erroneous actions. And the situation is played up to fit the
part of China as the martyr.
But I’ve been keeping tabs on the U.S. media coverage, and the States,
too, seem to come out smelling like roses.
This is an issue on which everyone has an opinion, but no one knows the facts,
and the facts available are skewed to paint the perfect portrait of each nation.
We should accept the fact that we’ll never know which country’s pilot
made that fatal error one week ago because neither nation is about to admit
responsibility. The moment that the Chinese jet crashed into the sea, the waters
churned ferociously to the point where no one can make a clear determination
of who really is to blame.
And with the vast difference in media coverage, my eyes have opened a little
wider to the world I came from versus the world I now live in. I can’t
vouch for a consensus on current American views of the situation, but there’s
one thing I am sure of — they’re more worrisome than in China. Life
has not changed one iota in Beijing.
The Chinese people are not concerned because they take all things in stride.
This is a culture that was ruled by a feudal system until the 20th century,
had a bloody civil war, a failed Cultural Revolution and an international massacre
at Tian’amen Square. Believe me, a little plane crash is not going to severely
ruffle their feathers, and it hasn’t.
But there are some universal truths that we Americans can learn from this situation.
First, Americans should accept the fact that they have no concept of what the
Chinese people are really like, which would more than likely dispel our irrational
fear of their way of life. The Chinese have known for quite a while that they
don’t grasp the fundamentals of our thought processes, yet they don’t
fear us — we should extend them the same courtesy.
Secondly, before formulating an opinion on an issue, try to get both sides of
the story. If I were still living in the States, I would be blaming the Chinese,
basing my viewpoints on the information portrayed in the American media. Although
U.S. journalists aim to be objective, remember that they tend to sensationalize,
so try to get all available facts and opinions before injecting society with
your personal tonic.
And finally, this is not the first time an international incident of this caliber
has occurred. Many have come before it and many will follow, so maybe we should
save our anxiety for a situation that is worthy of worry. And we should discourage
the media frenzy of over-sensationalizing the news.
As for me, I’m already working on my next big screenplay, which is sure
to be a hit. OK, the plot is about the president of the United States having
an affair with an intern…No, wait! It’s about a former princess of
England that is killed in a car crash…No, how about…