Then the Chinese military took its cue and, according to reports, boarded the plane. That throws Beijing into a difficult position. Because the military has now pushed them to do something they can't take back. You can't say, Well, after reviewing it, we didn't board your plane. Most of the apparent anti-American sentiment in China seems to be manipulated or fomented.
China seems to be good at turning on or off surges of public anti-American sentiment.
The Chinese government has been doing a good job of putting this sentiment up on the Internet. When the state media is telling you a U.S. spy plane flying in Chinese airspace rammed into a Chinese fighter that was just monitoring it, you can see where some of those reactions would come from. The Chinese government has been working lately on finding ways to exploit the Internet to its own benefit rather than just being a means of communication for dissidents and opposition groups. This is a wonderful example of how they're doing it. It monitors radar and radio communications, things of that sort.