In the propaganda war, the symbolic power of “trophy” weapons extends far beyond the battlefield, reshaping the narratives of geopolitical rivalries

If  Ukrainians made a public spectacle of captured Russian weaponry, the Russians did likewise in flaunting captured Western military hardware, from the Ukrainians. It is surreal to see captured battle trophies like the American M1 Abrams tank, German Leopard tank or the British Husky tactical support vehicle etc., in a public park. The symbolism supports the Russian narrative that the ‘West’/NATO is attacking Russia, and yet the Russians are triumphing. However, the ground truth is more complex as the Russians had invaded Ukraine and the war status is a stalemate at best, as the envisaged ‘10-day operation’ has gone on for over a year and a half. Such displays are common across militaries, and they understandably do not sit well with the other side.

Now, the Chinese have got riled over similar symbolism as the US Navy plans to exhibit a warplane, albeit of its own, that harks back to the 2001 Hainan Island incident that involved a midair collision of a Signal Intelligence aircraft i.e., EP-3E Aries II of the UN Navy, and a Chinese Air Force F-8 fighter plane. Flying over the tense and disputed South China Seas, the US plane had taken off from its Kadena Air Base in Japan and was intercepted by two F-8 fighters midway between the Hainan Islands and Paracel Islands. Whilst making aggressive passes, one of the Chinese fighter planes collided with the American plane and the Chinese fighter plane broke.

The Chinese fighter pilot’s body was never recovered. The damaged American plane along with its 24 crew members made an emergency landing at China’s Hainan airbase without authorization and its crew were detained.

There was a counterclaim by the Chinese that the American plane had deliberately hit the Chinese fighter plane, but it was never substantiated, even though the Chinese had the data from the flight recorders of both planes. 10 days of hectic diplomatic parleys ensued with each side blaming the other for provocation and unreasonable conduct.

China insisted on the illegality of the American plane’s presence claiming the region to be part of its exclusive economic zone as per the United Nations Convention on the Law of Sea (UNCLOS)– whereas the Americans claimed patrolling rights under its right of Freedom of Navigation. But embarrassing delays in securing the release of American crew were publicly distracting from the more pressing foreign policy issue of launching the ‘War on Terror’ for the then US President, George Bush, in Afghanistan, following 9/11.

A due ‘letter of the two sorries’ (for the death of the Chinese fighter pilot and unauthorized landing) from the American side led the same to be conveniently interpreted as a ‘letter of apology’ by the Chinese media, and the same led to the release of American crew and the return of the disassembled aircraft. 23 years later, the Americans are bringing back the same plane i.e., EP-3E Aries II, at its Pima Air & Space Museum in Tucson, Arizona, for public display. The ‘trophyisation’ will be accompanied by a backstory explaining its significance in a historic incident that was fraught with risks of further escalation, for public consumption.

The Chinese fear an American narrative of ‘capitulation’ that paints the Chinese reaction in a dim light, even though it had the American plane and its 24 crew members, on its soil.As a riled Chinese social media commentator reacted, “It is not 2001. Wake up! It's 2024” – as if to suggest that the Chinese PLA was no minnow any longer, and it would give a befitting reply.

The unofficial mouthpiece of the Chinese regime i.e., Global Times, captured the reactionary mood in China, “Chinese people saw the incident as a painful memory for the nation and the reported plan to display the US warplane at a sensitive moment when China-US relations are delicate and face uncertainties, is like "rubbing salt into the wound" and reflects an unfriendly stance by the US toward China”.      However, the situation in the choppy South China Seas has not changed much with the Chinese belligerence continuing and growing by the day, and with the Americans still conducting reconnaissance air sorties and naval exercises to counter the same.

Countries like Taiwan, Japan and most recently Philippines, are in the direct line of competing territorial claims, against China. Symbolism with the conceptualisation of concepts like QUAD (Quadrilateral of Sino-wary, Japan, US, Australia and India) or Naval Exercises are part of vital international optics and narrative building. In a dictatorial country like China where propaganda has been elevated to a fine art, Beijing understands the power of public perception, hence its discomfort with the re-positing of the Hainan incident, entailing the return of EP-3E Aries II in public imagination.

The Chinese pipedream would like the new US exhibit to include, “calls from China and other countries worldwide to end US reconnaissance operations near their borders”, but as the most encroaching, expansionist, and coercive neighbour – it would know better than to expect the American exhibit to be kind towards China’s propaganda position. With many famous defections of fighter pilots towards ‘enemy’ countries (especially from China to Taiwan), the ‘trophyisation’ of weapon platforms is an old hat, and in that context, the thin-skinned and hyper-reaction by the Chinese recently is churlish.

(The writer, a military veteran, is a former Lt Governor of Andaman & Nicobar Islands and Puducherry. The views expressed are personal)