20 years ago, an American fighter plane crossed the border without permission, broke into the sky over the South China Sea, and crashed a Chinese J-8 fighter plane.
The collision in the South China Sea has had a great impact on both China and the United States. Afterwards, the American reconnaissance aircraft that entered the country without authorization was seized by China. When the two sides were negotiating, the U.S. military representatives were very brutal. They demanded that China fill up the U.S. fighter planes with fuel and return them intact.
How does our country handle it? The model number of this American reconnaissance aircraft that entered the country without authorization is EP3. It is an intelligence reconnaissance aircraft developed by the United States, with a total value of up to 80 million US dollars.
In order to play the role of reconnaissance aircraft, the United States loaded a large amount of reconnaissance equipment inside. Therefore, after our country discovered that the EP3 reconnaissance aircraft had entered the country without authorization, it immediately dispatched aircraft to conduct an air interception.
The pilots responsible for this task are named Wang Wei and the other is named Zhao Yu. After the two took off, they quickly locked the location of the EP3 reconnaissance aircraft.
The J-8 fighter plane flown by Wang Wei and Zhao Yu is a combat aircraft with considerable combat effectiveness. The EP3 reconnaissance aircraft flown by American pilots are good at reconnaissance and are not equipped with much armed force.
If we are willing, we can launch an attack on the US EP3 reconnaissance aircraft and shoot it down.
However, Wang Wei and Zhao Yu did not act rashly, because their superiors had clearly stipulated long ago that if there were no special circumstances, it was best not to take the initiative to attack, so as not to cause unnecessary trouble.
Therefore, Wang Wei and Zhao Yu only issued warnings and used a relatively gentle method to expel the EP3 reconnaissance aircraft sent by the United States.
As a result, the American pilot on board the reconnaissance plane, instead of cooperating with our reasonable request, crashed the plane into Wang Wei's fighter plane.
Soon, Wang Wei's fighter plane lost its balance and fell into the sea. Before the plane crashed, Wang Wei made an emergency parachute . As a comrade in arms, Zhao Yu was chasing the American EP3 reconnaissance plane while calling his superiors for rescue.
In the end, the American EP3 reconnaissance plane was intercepted by our side, and all the American pilots on it became prisoners. The high-tech equipment on the reconnaissance aircraft also became our trophies.
However, what we were most concerned about at the time was not these things, but whether Wang Wei's rescue could be successful. In order to find this brave pilot, Navy leaders mobilized more than 10,000 people.
Everyone worked hard to salvage Wang Wei's plane in the sea area where he crashed for a long time and spent countless efforts. Unfortunately, in the end, Wang Wei's whereabouts were not found.
In the end, the relevant departments determined that Wang Wei died heroically and awarded him the honor of a martyr. Wang Wei's sacrifice was heartbreaking, but the incident did not end there. After the incident, we sternly warned the United States and asked them to solemnly apologize for the incident.
At that time, the President of the United States, Bush, had just taken office. In order to protect his face, he adopted a very tough stance.
not only failed to agree to my country’s request for an apology, but even issued a savage statement, requiring my country to follow international practices to protect the safety of American crew members and at the same time send American aircraft back as soon as possible.
In this statement, the United States did not mention the disappearance of pilot Wang Wei at all. This insincere, almost threatening statement aroused the anger of countless people.
Our country was not intimidated by the so-called strong attitude of the United States. Instead, it argued hard and protested while disposing of the prisoners and reconnaissance equipment on the EP3 reconnaissance plane.
These reconnaissance equipment involved a lot of confidential information. The United States was worried that China would threaten them after mastering this information, so it spent a lot of manpower and material resources to change the system deployment of the US military in the Pacific region.
Thanks to the continuous efforts of our representatives, the attitude of the United States has gradually softened.Finally, the United States was forced to admit that they had violated China's airspace without authorization and publicly apologized for the matter.
At the same time, US President Bush personally apologized to Wang Wei's wife. Although the United States has apologized for its wrong behavior, people in the country are still very angry about this matter.
In the end, the national leaders decided to repatriate the 24 American pilots and return the impounded EP3 reconnaissance aircraft to take the overall situation into consideration.
It is worth mentioning that when the EP3 reconnaissance aircraft was handed over, the person in charge of the negotiations was not a US government official, but a representative of the US military.
I believe many people know that the U.S. military has always been very arrogant, and they basically do not pay attention to other countries. Therefore, when U.S. military representatives were in charge of negotiations, they behaved more arrogantly than U.S. government officials.
As soon as they took over the relevant work, they immediately made some extremely unreasonable demands. Among them, the most unacceptable thing is that they asked China to refuel the EP3 reconnaissance aircraft and return it to them intact.
For China, this impounded EP3 reconnaissance aircraft is evidence of Wang Wei’s heroic sacrifice. If the US military complies with the requirements of the US military, this aircraft will be filled with fuel and given to them. Not only is Wang Wei's sacrifice unsatisfactory, but it will also seriously damage the country's face and international image.
This is something that all Chinese people are unwilling to accept, but it is not a good thing if the EP3 reconnaissance aircraft is kept detained.
After all, the two parties have reached an agreement before, setting the tone regarding the return of the EP3 reconnaissance aircraft. How did our country handle the unreasonable demands made by U.S. military representatives?
Chinese negotiators gave a blatant order that the US reconnaissance plane must not be allowed to fly back completely. This sentence completely determined the nature of this matter.
Not long after, my country used the excuse of transporting aircraft to dismantle the EP3 reconnaissance aircraft into relatively trivial parts.
It is worth mentioning that this method of operation is not original to our country, but was created in the United States. Many years ago, a pilot in the Soviet Union defected to Japan in a Su-25 fighter jet at the instigation of the United States and other Western countries.
Under the leadership of the United States, this Su-25 fighter jet was dismantled into parts and returned to the Soviet Union. This incident seriously damaged the interests of the Soviet Union and lowered the Soviet Union's international status.
When we treated the United States in the same way, the US representatives were extremely angry, but they had no way to resist and could only accept the result.
It should be emphasized that our representatives did not simply want to vent their anger when they dismantled the EP3 reconnaissance aircraft. For our country, this dismantling work is a rare opportunity to practice.
We can dismantle and study the EP3 reconnaissance aircraft regardless of the consequences, and accumulate experience for ourselves. Because of this dismantling work, my country's military aircraft research has avoided many detours. The research and development speed of our investigation equipment has also been accelerated a lot.
The overall strength of the entire country has improved a lot in just a few years. In this incident, the most heartbreaking and regrettable thing is Wang Wei. His unfortunate experience is a historical trauma that even time cannot erase.
His sacrifice will be remembered by the Chinese people forever. May his spirit rest in peace.
