Good day to you all,

I just want to say that I am very pleased with the way China has handled the US spy plane incident in general and especially with the strong position China has taken in resolving the incident. As a Chinese, I am very proud to see that the often arrogant and belligerent Americans, at least for once, have to say "very sorry" for what they did to the Chinese people. One good thing possibly comeing out of this incident, I think, is that it gives the Americans a rare opportunity to see China in a way they normally do not see, i.e. China is now a major world player that demand their respect and that they cannot bully around. Of course, it is very saddening that Wang Wei lost his life, but I think that China is emerging as the real winner from the incident.

Having said all this, I am also very happy that this is incident is being wrapped up in a timely fashion, with release of the spy crew today. We have to face an important fact here, which is: Sino-US relation is possibly the most important relationship in the 21st century, not only to the two countries, but also to the entire world. Although it is important to recognize that it is extremely difficult for the two countries to be close friends, it does not mean that China and the US have to be enemies. Hopefully both countries have now realized that they can not afford to be enemies. There are too much economic interest at stake for both countries. They can be "partners", "competitors" or whatever. It is a relationship that the two countries have to work hard to manage and to maintain. China needs the United States as a trading partner as much as the US needs China. It is especially important for the Chinese people to realize that China will need another 15 or 20 years of economic development before China can become an equal to the US. Let's not lose sight of the historic opportunity and mission of the Chinese nation, while the spy plane incident will only be a tiny footnote in the history of Sino-American relations.

Mingtao Yu

from London Ontario, Canada

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