To: JohnG who wrote (96936 ) 4/5/2001 1:00:44 PM From: Ibexx Respond to of 152472 April 5, 2001 Standoff Over Spy Plane Appears to Be Easing By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS Filed at 10:42 a.m. ET WASHINGTON -- The standoff with China over a downed reconnaissance plane showed signs of easing Thursday. China's ambassador called at the State Department and the White House said "we have reached a diplomatic point where matters are heavily engaged." A senior U.S. official told The Associated Press the situation had improved over the last few days. Secretary of State Colin Powell, in a letter to Beijing, reiterated U.S. concern and regret for the death of a Chinese pilot whose fighter collided with the U.S. craft over the South China Sea, the official said. The official, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said the hope was that the United States would soon have access to the American plane that China is holding along with the 24-member crew. China's new ambassador to Washington, Yang Jiechi, held his second meeting in two days with Deputy Secretary of State Richard L. Armitage in an effort to resolve the dispute. There was no confirmation the Chinese who boarded the U.S. plane on the island of Hainan had stripped it of intelligence-gathering gear that the crew had not destroyed. But the senior U.S. official said it was assumed the sophisticated equipment had been removed. At the White House, spokesman Ari Fleischer said: ``The governments are heavily engaged and we will continue to monitor events.'' Fleischer declined to provide specifics, saying negotiations were at a sensitive stage. Bush spoke twice Wednesday night with Powell and near midnight with his national security adviser, Condoleezza Rice. Meanwhile, a second senior U.S. official said he was encouraged by the level and quality of the diplomatic contacts between the two countries overnight. This appraisal ran counter to the frustration that U.S. official had expressed in the days following Sunday's collision. Ibexx