Looks like the Chinese People's Liberation Army (lol) is in charge.
China Calls for Stronger Military
The Associated Press
Saturday, April 7, 2001; 11:03 a.m. EDT
BEIJING –– China's defense minister met Saturday with the wife of a fighter pilot missing after an in-flight collision with a U.S. spy plane and vowed to build up the Chinese armed forces.
Gen. Chi Haotian said the People's Liberation Army wouldn't let Washington evade responsibility for the incident.
"This collision was entirely caused by the U.S. side. We have ample evidence and a legal basis for that," the official Xinhua News Agency quoted Chi as saying.
"It's impermissible for them to want to shirk responsibility. The People's Liberation Army does not agree to it, the Chinese people don't agree to it. The people of the world also won't agree to it."
Chi's comments added weight to speculation that China's military and security services may be impeding a resolution to the crisis over the collision and China's detention of the U.S. plane's 24 crew members.
The 21 men and three women have been held for a week on Hainan island in the South China Sea, where they made an emergency landing.
While President Jiang Zemin and other leaders had sought strengthened ties with Washington before the collision, Chinese generals are thought to have favored a tougher line.
Some analysts believe the in-flight collision between the U.S. Navy EP-3E surveillance plane and a Chinese F-8 fighter in international airspace near Hainan may give the military and hard-liners in the government a stronger hand.
"We want to convert our indignation with hegemonism into a huge motivating force ... build a stronger country and a stronger military," Xinhua quoted Chi as saying.
The general is a veteran of the 1950-53 Korean War, when Chinese troops fought alongside North Korean forces against American-led United Nations forces.
Chi vowed to "spare no effort" in the search for Wang Wei, the pilot said by China to have bailed out of his crippled F-8. China says the lumbering EP-3E veered suddenly, shredding the F-8's tail with its propellers.
The search for Wang entered its seventh day Saturday.
"We are as worried as you. We hope comrade Wang Wei comes back alive," Chi told Wang's wife, Ruan Guoqin. "If Wang really sacrificed his life, he deserves the highest glory, and his deed was a heroic one."
Beijing says Washington must apologize. U.S. officials have expressed regret but say the collision was an accident, that the U.S. crew did nothing wrong and that no apology is needed.
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