Demonstrating ‘Spirit of Cooperation’ : U.S. F-16 Team Shows Aerial Skills to Chinese

Four F-16 jets of the U.S. Air Force Thunderbirds precision-flying team roared past more than 5,000 spectators Thursday at Nanyuan Air Base on the outskirts of Beijing.

Flying in tight formation, less than a wingspan apart, the white-and-black-bodied, red-nosed fighter planes pulled into a near-vertical climb.

A fifth jet flashed by in low, level flight with its right wing pointed downward. Then the final team member zipped into sight, shot upward and turned 180 degrees to disappear again.

For 40 minutes, the olive-uniformed officers and enlisted men of the air, sea and land forces of the People’s Liberation Army watched a spectacular show of American military technology and training. Nothing like it had come to China since the 1949 Communist revolution.

When it was over, one of the Chinese officers sitting near a group of American reporters was asked what it all meant.

‘Our Forces Friendly’

“The people of our two countries are friendly,” replied the officer, who declined to give his name. “Our military forces are friendly too.”

Another officer said the best parts of the show were when a pilot took his plane straight up into the air and when the team flew in tight formation with all the planes rolled on their sides773857826said. “There are many points worth studying.”

The show--performed to music ranging from the theme song of “Chariots of Fire” to “America the Beautiful”--began after Chinese air force commander Wang Hai pasted a Chinese flag decal on one of the planes.

Wang, an air force hero in the Korean War--when Chinese and American troops were bitter enemies--later described Thursday’s performance as “very good,” the New China News Agency reported.

In a brief press conference after the show, Air Force Secretary Edward C. Aldridge Jr. called the event “more than a port call” and said it is “a beginning” that demonstrates “the spirit of cooperation.” The United States and China “have lots of common interests,” Aldridge said. He described China as “strategically located” and said it is in the interests of the United States to pursue good relations.

Aldridge made no specific reference to the Soviet Union, with which China shares a long border. But mutual concerns about Soviet military strength in Asia form a basis for growing American-Chinese military cooperation.

The key areas involving the U.S. Air Force are sales of avionics technology and provision of training in use and maintenance of equipment, Aldridge said.

The United States and China signed a $550-million agreement last year to upgrade the radar and electronic systems on China’s F-8 fighter plane. One of the F-8s has been shipped to the United States, where the contractor, Grumman Aircraft Corp., has begun work on th1696624754work with Grumman to ensure that it is being done in the right way,” Aldridge said.

“We are responding to what they say they need, their requests to us,” he added. “I think what we get in return is a more stable part of the world.”

Aldridge said he did not foresee a request by the United States for base or refueling rights in China. “Right now there’s no need for that,” he said.

The Thunderbirds, on an Asian tour, are scheduled to fly to Thailand on Saturday--refueling from a U.S. tanker plane in midair over central China.