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To: long-gone who wrote (66877)	4/2/2001 10:44:02 AM
From: Rarebird	Respond to of 116764

U.S. decries lack of contact with crew Monday, April 02, 2001 10:18 AM EDT HONG KONG, Apr 02, 2001 (United Press International via COMTEX) -- The U.S. ambassador to China on Monday chided Beijing authorities for keeping 24 American crew members out of contact since their Navy reconnaissance plane was forced to make an emergency landing on a Chinese island following a collision with a Chinese fighter jet. U.S. diplomats headed to Hainan Island off China's southern coast where the Navy plane landed at the Lingshui military airport. Ambassador Joseph Prueher, a retired admiral and former commander in chief of the U.S. Pacific Command, said China's refusal to allow U.S. officials to talk with the 24-member crew was "inexplicable and unacceptable." It was unclear whether the diplomats' presence on Hainan would change China's position. There were also reports that at least six reporters from Hong Kong and foreign news organizations had been detained by authorities in Lingshui and told to leave. Prueher said Beijing insisted that the U.S. crew was responsible for the collision and said that as the crew have been kept incommunicado, U.S. officials have no information from the Navy personnel regarding the allegation. Chinese authorities assured U.S. officials that the crew members were safe. It was not known if they were still on the plane or had been taken to a building at the airport. A Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman said the United States had "total responsibility for this event." The ministry on Sunday accused the U.S. Navy EP-3 plane of suddenly veering and bumping the F-8 fighter jet, causing the fighter to crash into the South China Sa. In incident occurred shortly after about 9 a.m. Sunday about 62 miles southeast of Hainan. The Chinese pilot was still missing Monday. Lt. Cmdr. Sean Kelly of Pacific Command at Camp Smith, Hawaii, said the crew contacted Navy officials after the aircraft had been damaged in the collision but since that initial message, "We haven't heard a peep ... as far as we know they (crew members) are still in Hainan and that the Chinese government is taking care of them." "Naturally we are concerned that we haven't heard from them. If this happened in the United States, in minutes we would have them in contact with their government and families," he added. "China seems to be dragging it heels." Commander in Chief of the U.S. Pacific Command Adm. Dennis Blair criticized China Sunday at a news conference in Hawaii saying that "Chinese fighters over the past couple of months have become more aggressive to the point that we felt they were endangering the safety of the Chinese and American aircraft." "It's not a normal practice to play bumper cars in the air," said Kelly. "Big airplanes like this (the Navy craft) fly straight and level on their path, little airplanes zip around them," he said. "It's pretty obvious who bumped into whom ... I'm going on common sense now because I haven't talked to our crew." A spokesman for the Pacific Command said the Navy plane should be regarded as sovereign U.S. territory. "We expect that their government will respect the integrity of the aircraft and well-being and safety of the crew in accordance with international practices, and that they'll expedite any necessary repairs to the aircraft and that they'll facilitate the immediate return of the aircraft and crew," said Lt. Col. Dewey Ford, a spokesman at Fort Smith in Hawaii. The U.S. Navy said the plane was on a routine surveillance run in international airspace when it was intercepted by two Chinese fighters and bumped by one of them. The Navy EP-3 was forced to land in southern China. The Navy said the plane, fitted with high technology listening devices and an advanced radar system, had been badly damaged. The pilot put in a distress call and landed on Hainan. In Hong Kong about 100 people demonstrated outside the U.S. consulate saying the United States was at fault in the collision. The group was organized by the Hong Kong Federation of Trade Unions and demanded that U.S. officials accept a petition. No one from the embassy approached the crowd. By KATHERINE ARMS Copyright 2001 by United Press International. News provided by COMTEX comtexnews.com