|
they had made the claim previously, yes.
an alternative question might be: were it not for the american policy toward taiwan, why would us ships have been there in the first place?
this is obviously at the center of the differend, and not anything china may or may not be doing relative to trade.
as for throwing wood and stripping down to underwear, that i cannot explain.
it would not have been my first thought (wait--there's a large surveillance ship. what to do? i know, let's take off our clothes...)
the only thing i can think of is that the whole incident was happening in an ambiguous space and taking off the clothes was a strange attempt to remove the military dimension to it.
but i just made that up.
the ny times article mentions something about there having been an attempt to gaffe an underwater submarine surveillance device, which seems somehow more germaine to what was happening.
__________________
a gramophone its corrugated trumpet silver handle
spinning dog. such faithfulness it hear
it make you sick.
-kamau brathwaite
|