Sir, - Every day in Tiananmen Square, Beijing, traffic halts and crowds push against barriers as the national flag is raised and lowered.
On June 14th, American Flag Day, each US citizen is obliged to fly the Stars and Stripes. The majority of US citizens fly the flag every day on their own premises.
The Red Flag marks every school in China, while American children pledge allegiance to their flag each morning.
Two nations at polar extremes. So extreme that they have come full circle and met somewhere in the middle? Intransigence
and tunnel vision bred by unhealthy national pride. And who owed whom an apology for a crashed spy plane and a dead pilot?
Now that the drama has calmed down, how about an apology to the rest of the world for making it the arena of their puerile finger-pointing and stubborn blame-game tactics? With truly pressing issues in the world, who has time for a pair of ruffled egos? - Yours, etc.,
Sarah Bowie, Highthorn Park, Dun Laoghaire, Co Dublin.