This is John Bachelor.

Conversation with my good friend, Gordon Chang, after the most recent incident in the South China Sea,

the harassment of a Philippine aircraft by the Chinese People's Liberation Army Navy

Air Force.

In this instance, dropping flares in front of the plane, Harrisman, buzzing it, high-performance

aircraft from the People's Liberation Army Air Force have done this before. In particular, it is over an area called Scarborough or Scholl and Gordon does us the favor of

recounting all the other flash points that as of yet have not broken out into a larger conflict and why why

does China provoke in this harassing fashion Gordon Chang at Gordon G. Chang explaining the most recent incident and all the incidents before

the People's Liberation Army Navy Air Force gaming at the Philippines.

More of this tonight.

I don't think there's anything particular, John.

It's just that China has continued pressure

at various places.

So for instance, second Thomas Shell, Scarborough show, Sabina Reef,

Witson Reef, these are areas that China picks on all the time and it moves

from place to place depending I guess on its political

calculations but nonetheless these are dangerous activities

Cjimping is risking war and he's basically made the judgment that the United States is not going to

fully support its Philippine ally. So what he's trying to do, I suspect, with all of

these activities is to sort of make it clear to people in the region that the

U.S. is not there to help.