I’ll bet there are more than a few people pissed off here. Including every bar owner in Wanchai:
U.S. aircraft carrier denied access to Hong Kong
HONG KONG 21 Nov 2007-(Reuters) – China has refused permission for a U.S. aircraft carrier and accompanying vessels to visit Hong Kong for a long-planned Thanksgiving holiday visit, the U.S. State Department said on Wednesday.The Kitty Hawk group and its crew of 8,000 U.S. airmen and sailors had been expected in Hong Kong on Wednesday, but will now spend the holiday on the South China Sea.
Hundred of relatives of crew members of the USS Kitty Hawk had flown to Hong Kong to celebrate Thanksgiving with their loved ones. Hong Kong has been a regular port of call for U.S. sailors on “R & R” (rest and recuperation) since the Vietnam War.
The Chinese move comes as a surprise just weeks after a visit to China by Defense Secretary Robert Gates, which he said he hoped would lead to a long-term dialogue.
“At present, it appears the USS Kitty Hawk strike group will not be making a port call in Hong Kong as previously planned as a result of a last minute denial by the Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs,” State Department spokeswoman Nicole Thompson said.
The United States was pressing China for an explanation and to reconsider its decision, she added.
There are several possible sources of discontent that may have prompted the decision — including U.S. plans to sell Taiwan a $940 million upgrade to its missile system and a meeting last month between President George W Bush and the Dalai Lama, the Tibetan Buddhist leader who Beijing considers a traitor.
The Foreign Ministry in Beijing declined to make an immediate comment.
UPDATE! The Chinese have now changed their mind and agreed to let the ship in. Might have had something to do with the Wanchai Bar owners threatening to host a pro-democracy demonstration if they did not. 🙂
Still means the Chinese are just stinking commie bastards!
Update to the Update!: From Spike and confirmed through other sources: “UPDATE 2: The Kitty Hawk decided not to turn around and come back to HK; it’s continuing on to Japan anyway. The NY Times notes that in 2006 the US Navy spent US$32 million while on shore leave in HK. The article interviews the manager of Coyote who says US Navy visits typically bump bar revenues by 60 percent and that they’d booked a table for 60 for Thanksgiving dinner and that, understandably, morale on the ship is a bit low at the moment. Morale is probably low among HK bar owners, bar managers and, ahem, bar girls as well.
Kitty Hawk is going to go give the carrier based equivalent of flipping the Chinese the bird. This ought to be interesting over the next few months…………….
“…still means the Chinese are…”, yes, and it also means the Chinese are the greatest threat to our security. Most interesting how Beijing waited until the USS Kitty Hawk Group had already turned around and was well out to sea before saying “come on back!”.