On April 1, a Chinese pilot, pursuant to the Chinese government policy of harassing U.S. surveillance planes, knocked an American EP-3 from the sky. The Chinese government then held the American aircrew hostage for 11 days, and extorted a letter of apology from the Bush administration.

Will China now pay a price? Some of our conservative friends who supported the Bush administration’s handling of this matter have expressed confidence that the answer is yes. We hope they’re right.