Welcome back to China Uncensored.
I’m Chris Chappell.
Remember when laser weapons were the domain
of stormtroopers and Death Stars?
Well, the future of military-grade lasers has arrived
and it’s...a little scary.
In a test,
this laser weapon developed for the US military
shot down five drones.
And check out this one:
a Tactical High Energy Laser code named THEL.
It can track, lock onto, and fire a laser
at an incoming missile or artillery shell
and shoot it down mid-flight.
In fact, some laser weapons are so dangerous
they’ve been banned.
Both the US and China signed
the Protocol on Blinding Laser Weapons.
It bans the use of lasers
that can cause permanent blindness.
But... it seems that the Chinese military
just used a laser weapon on American pilots.
I mean, it’s been 20 years
since China signed that treaty.
Maybe they forgot.
And to be fair,
that was a long time ago.
I mean, back in 1998,
we were watching Young Hercules,
while playing Pokemon and listening to Britney Spears
and...oh my God I’m so old.
What’s that, Shelley?
Oh right, lasers.
There have been about ten recent incidents
where Chinese military personnel
allegedly pointed high-powered lasers at US planes
flying near a US military base.
It’s been happening in the African nation of Djibouti—
where both the US and China have military bases
within a few miles of each other.
In...Djibouti.
A DOD spokesperson said that in a recent incident,
two American cargo plane pilots
were injured by the Chinese lasers.
They are very serious incidents.
There have been two minor injuries.
This activity poses a threat to our airmen.
We have formally demarched the Chinese
and we have requested the Chinese
investigate these incidents.
The Chinese Foreign Ministry—
surprise, surprise—
denies everything.
Their spokesperson also demanded that reporters
“remind relevant people in the US
to pay attention to facts.”
Well the fact is that last year China
opened its first ever foreign military base
about a mile away from the US base in Djibouti,
on the horn of Africa.
And, according to the American general
that oversees US operations in Africa,
there goes the neighborhood.
U.S. Marine Corps General Thomas Waldhauser
diplomatically said there’s a lot of “learning” and “growing”
going on because this is the first time ever
a “peer competitor” opened up shop
so close to an American base.
And that this poses some
“very significant operational security concerns.”
But whoever’s tagging planes with lasers
on the Horn of Africa is also putting pilots at risk.
The Federal Aviation Administration last month published
a warning to pilots to use extreme caution in the area.
They said, “There have been multiple lazing events
involving a high-power laser in the vicinity.”
“Lazing events”?
I thought lazing events looked more like this.
But according to the South China Morning Post,
“Chinese military observers say the lasers
may have been used to scare away birds.”
Oh, yeah.
I can see how a C-130 Hercules cargo plane
that weighs 30 tons and has a wingspan of 120 feet
could be mistaken for a flock of seagulls.
And of course there’s no way the Chinese military
could be getting freakishly possessive
about the air space
around their naval base in Djibouti.
At least until the Chinese government
issues a statement calling the airspace
around their naval base in Djibouti
part of Chinese territory since ancient times.
For now, though,
it seems the Pentagon is leaving open
the possibility that some overzealous Chinese personnel
might have been acting on their own—
and that it’s not actually a top-level
policy-driven territorial dispute.
But just in case,
learning to deflect laser blasts
might not be a bad idea.
So what do you think about allegations
of Chinese personnel shooting lasers at US planes?
Leave your comments below.
Once again, I’m Chris Chappell.
See you next time.
Stay where you are!
Because I’m going to answer another fan question.
This one comes from David Michael White.
He asks:
“Chris, what is your favorite piece of literature from China?”
I actually love Chinese literature, so I'm a bit torn on what answer to give.
I'd say my favorite of the Four Classics is Romance of the Three Kingdoms.
But if you'd like something a little more modern,
I'd say The Three-Body Problem trilogy by Liu Cixin.
Some of the best science fiction I've ever read.
It ranks right up there with Isaac Asimov's Foundation series.
Thanks for the question.
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