China Fires Laser at U.S. Navy Aircraft

Once again there is an incident with China in the South China Sea. Chinese military forces targeted a US Navy P-8A Poseidon aircraft with a high powered laser, what's less commonly known as a dazzler, last week. This understandably drew the ire of USINDOPACOM (United States Indo-Pacific Command) and the United States Navy, who in no uncertain terms told the Chinese how they were not super-duper thrilled about the whole incident.Dazzlers (lasers) such as these are utilized for jamming, or damaging electronic sensors onboard aircraft, at least that's what ours are for...right now...the ones we know about *wink wink*It'd be unfair to say that we're not at least passively antagonizing China, but that statement also has another side. Our mere presence in the South China Sea is seen as threatening or aggressive by China. Totally understandable, if China was playing around in the Gulf of Mexico, we'd be upset too. But here is the kicker...we're not threatening to invade the Dominican Republic or Haiti because of ancestral relationships like China is threatening with Taiwan.China seems to be the harbinger of its own doom. Militarize the South China Sea, harvest organs from minority populations in China, threaten Taiwan with invasion. One does not simply do these things and expect everyone in the world to be like "Oh, ok, cool dude, yeah you do you. Live your best life!" People are going to have some problems with your shit and they'll probably send their military to investigate. Why? Because it's better to have a gun and not need one than to be the world's biggest dipshit.The P-8A Poseidon aircraft, based at Kadena Air Force Base in Okinawa, Japan was operating a few hundred miles from Guam when the incident occurred. A laser from a PLA-Navy destroyer targeted the aircraft and fired the laser which was picked up by a sensor onboard the aircraft. Luckily none of the flight crew was harmed and the same can be said for the aircraft.So...catastrophe averted? Right?The game that is being played in the South China Sea is a precarious one at best. Most economic experts agree that a war between the United States and China would be just about the dumbest thing both countries could do. However, China again keeps threatening to forcefully annex Taiwan, who definitely doesn't want to be annexed. Taiwan is an unofficial ally of the United States. Other official allies of the United States in the area aren't super big fans of China's growing sphere of influence around Asia, particularly Japan, whose Prime Minister wishes to amend Article 9 of the Japanese Constitution. Article 9 prohibits Japan from having such things as ICBMs or bomber fleets, etc... before he ends his term in 2021.What do you guys think we should do?