China has a well-known problem with cyber-theft and with taking five-finger discounts on other peoples’ intellectual property. Their new fighter jet is our new fighter jet, the design and technical details of which they stole. Their new predator drone is our predator drone, which they stole. Their new reconnaissance drone is our new reconnaissance drone, which they stole. Their new helicopter drone is our new helicopter drone, which they stole.
Their “Assault Carbine” is our M-4. Their Dongfend EQ2050 “Brave Soldier” is our Humvee. Their Hong-jian-12 “Red Arrow” is our Javelin antitank missile. Et cetera, et cetera. The Scrapbook could fill this entire issue listing products Red China has ripped off.
Now, though, Beijing has finally gone too far. Last week, The Scrapbook was reading an article on the website of the Australian Broadcasting Company about China’s gearing-up for a military confrontation in the South China Sea. The piece included a Reuters photo of a Chinese coast guard cutter, on whose side we were stunned to see was painted a red-orange, white-and-blue racing stripe—just like the ones every U.S. Coast Guard ship, plane, and helicopter has sported since the ’60s, when legendary industrial designer Raymond Loewy created the motif to spruce up the Coast Guard, at JFK’s request.
They’ve stolen our racing stripes. How shameless!
We predict this will go down in history as the straw that broke the camel’s back.
