In Milton Friedman's "The Role of Government in a Free Society" he states, "In both games and society also, no set of rules can prevail unless most participants most of the time conform to them without external sanctions" - Friedman. I want to expand this to the international level and specifically how pilots from different countries interact with each other in the air. It is common to "intercept" other planes, whether they are jets or cargo planes. These intercepts have rules and guidelines pilots must follow in order to ensure the safety of each own's aircraft. In recent months there have been multiple reports of Chinese military aircraft "not following the rules". Amid the rising tensions amongst China and the US over Taiwan, Chinese aircraft have flown dangerously close and have acted provocatively while intercepting US and Allied aircraft.
This is such an issue as these actions are not decisions made by the pilots themselves, but orders from the CCP. The PLA (People's Liberation Army) operates under direct command of the CCP and decisions are not decentralized or independent as they are in the US military. Meaning the CCP is directly ordering their pilots to antagonize not only our own pilots but the pilots of Canada, Japan, and Australia. In this instance the government's role as a Rule Maker and Umpire is failing. Conformity in this sense can not be enforced by international law since one of the biggest players is blatantly ignoring safe conduct in the air. Government here can't "enforce compliance with the rules on the part of those few who would otherwise play the game" - Friedman, unless sanctions are placed on China. With the present circumstances actions such as enforcing sanctions, the goals of which would be to make Chinese Aircraft safely fly, could only lead to higher tensions and is not a viable option. If the governments of the world can't make China abide by international guidelines in the air, what will stop this obvious market failure before a serious incident occurs.
Link to Article:
No comments:
Post a Comment