Impasse With China: ‘What’s in a Word?’

Re “For U.S. and China, the Looking Glass Yields Disparate Views of Accident,” April 8: Robin Wright’s news analysis of the “accident” is fairly perspicacious, but it misses the essential point. We are at a disadvantage because we are--properly--concerned with 24 lives, while the Chinese government could sacrifice twice that many millions (as it did during the Cultural Revolution) without turning a hair.

When the government of one side worries about what its country has to lose while that of the other cares only about keeping its power, the only path is for the former to turn whatever screws it possesses: in our case, trade, Taiwan and the Olympics. Any entreaties will only be laughed at.

SIDNEY BROUNSTEIN

Redlands

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What’s in a word? If the Chinese want an apology, then we should give it to them. We could issue an apology for accidentally hitting a Chinese fighter that came closer to our plane than it should have.

GERSTEN SCHACHNE

Northridge

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Now George W. Bush must know how it feels the first time a rookie steps up to the plate in the majors. The Chinese aren’t lobbing the ball in, like Bush was used to back in the “Texas League,” where the games were rigged by his oil business pals. Did Bush actually think that the Chinese would comply with his initial bellicose demands that they immediately do as he said and release our flyers and aircraft? That was the time when a measured response could have defused the confrontation.

Bush may not have become the Willie Mays of his boyhood dreams, but whether he likes it or not, he’s going to have to learn what it means to bat in the major leagues.

RONALD RUBIN

Topanga