WTF?
That Aries II was forced down on the Hainan airfield by a hotshot MiG pilot who initiated a thump maneuver and failed, getting himself killed and almost doing the same to the 20+ souls onboard the EP-3. The aircraft commander had the choice of that, or ditching that seriously overweight version of the Orion into the South China Sea - not a fun prospect regardless of how well it can be done in an Airbus 320 within sight of land.
Do you even understand how many reconnaissance operations are flown in a given timeframe by the U.S. military in that neck of the woods? Just a few years ago, (2003) an RC-135 was scrambled against by a North Korean MiG, and the back-seaters were listening to the MiG pilot repeatedly requesting permission from his controllers to open fire. For the record, the North Koreans aren't as friendly, stable or tolerant as the Chinese. Again, recce sorties are not just a little trip down to 7-11 for a Slurpee.
We used to carry thermite grenades on our sorties in the event we were forced down, but that was replaced by Dash One checklist procedures and equipment showing how to quickly destroy classified in an emergency situation. That EP-3 crew was busy as hell destroying hard drives, tapes, zeroing out waypoints, everything on the way to that forced landing as the pilot, co-pilot, and flight engineer tried to keep it all together on the way down. The Chinese didn't get much in the way of a trophy. The entire community was thoroughly briefed and additional training initiated as a result of the EP-3 crew's experiences. That's part of the curriculum now, just as similar info is integrated whenever an incident occurs, including the USAF EC-121 that was shot down by the North Koreans many years ago.
It's bullshit to say that George W. gift-wrapped that EP-3 for the Chinese. If I could reach out through this cable modem and bitch-slap you, I would. It's pretty darned easy to armchair-quarterback something like that, but if you haven't been there and done that, I'd seriously suggest talking about something else. Recce ops against China/North Korea/Russia have been going on for years before the last administration, and will continue in the current administration - I guarantee that. The information is too valuable not to risk it, and if you want to know what's going on with a given country's military buildup, are you going to wait for it to appear in the world edition of the Beijing People's Daily News, or are you going to send a package or three in harm's way to check it out? Nor was it the first or last time a Chinese/Nork/Soviet/Russian fighter intercepted an EP-3/RC-135/WC-135/E-3 in that neck of the woods. It was, however, the first time that the intercepting fighter tried an intimidating manuever, botched it, killed himself, and nearly killed the other crew.
"Ignored the threat". Gawd, that's comedy gold, right there. We knew what the threat was, and we got briefed before every sortie. You might not have gotten the memo, but we sure's hell did. Wang Wei (aka, "Wrong Way" ever since he removed himself from the gene pool), however, decided that he was going to try remodeling his Chinese MiG copy that day, and paid for his lack of judgement.