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To: long-gone who wrote (67194)	4/6/2001 9:56:14 AM
From: Rarebird	Read Replies (2) \| Respond to of 116753

China allows second crew visit Friday, April 06, 2001 08:22 AM EDT HONG KONG, Apr 06, 2001 (United Press International via COMTEX) -- Chinese officials cleared the way for U.S. diplomats to meet Friday for a second time with the 24 crew members who have been held in custody since making an emergency landing at an air force base on the Chinese island of Hainan last Sunday. The diplomats left their hotel Friday, presumably to meet with the crew, an hour after they told reporters the meeting would take place. The meeting was due to take place in Haikou, the island's provincial capital. After a series of high-level diplomatic talks between officials in Washington and in Beijing, there is still no sign the crew or the American aircraft will be released soon. The planned meeting is seen as a sign of progress in the standoff between Beijing and Washington. But China's Foreign Ministry on Friday repeated Beijing's demand for an apology for the collision with a U.S. spy plane over the South China Sea that left a Chinese pilot missing. "China's position is clear," a ministry spokeswoman said. "The United States must admit full responsibility and apologize to the Chinese people and it must take sincere and effective measures to prevent a similar incident from happening again." The prospect of the second meeting came as President Bush expressed his regret Thursday for the apparent death of the Chinese pilot involved in the collision , saying his prayers were with the pilot's family. "I regret that a Chinese pilot is missing ...Our prayers go out to the pilot, his family ... Our prayers are also with our own servicemen and women, and they need to come home," Bush said. His comments -- an apparent attempt to satisfy Beijing's repeated calls for a formal apology from the United States -- came as diplomatic activity intensified on both sides of the tense standoff and as the United States attempted to leverage its influence in third countries to bring behind-the-scenes pressure to bear on Chinese President Jiang Zemin. During a visit to Chile late Thursday, Jiang said Beijing and Washington must take care in handling the dispute. He said the crew members are safe, and that the damaged U.S. plane is still on Hainan Island. But he insisted both sides must work together to seek a resolution to the impasse. "I have visited many countries and I see that when people have an accident, the two groups involved...always say 'excuse me.'" Jiang began a tour of Latin American capitals Thursday, starting with Santiago. Meanwhile in Washington, Chinese Ambassador Yang Jiechi was at the State Department for the fourth time in as many days, meeting with Deputy Secretary of State Richard Armitage, who is now emerging as one of the key players in the administration's handling of the crisis. State Department Richard Boucher confirmed that the crew, now being detained in a dormitory-like unit on the Lingshui air base on Hainan, were in good health and condition. Reports said the missing Chinese pilot, Wang Wei, was a reckless flyer. "There is no doubt about it. He is their 'Maverick,' their Tom Cruise," a senior Pentagon official said. "Remember that guy that flew upside down in "Top Gun" and took pictures?" The Pentagon said it has classified photos of Wang flying within 30 feet of other U.S. spy planes, so close they could see the helmet markings and the tail number. In the meantime, Chinese officials said the detained crew members were being questioned about the incident. The EP-3 Aries II aircraft is one of the most secret pieces of equipment in the U.S. military arsenal. The Navy owns about a dozen of the aircraft, each of which carries a huge collection of highly classified sensitive radio receivers and high-gain dish antennae that can detect, record and analyze electronic emissions from deep within enemy territory, according to the Navy. The EP-3 could not have landed in a better place for China, or a worse one for U.S. military intelligence. Hainan island is host to one of China's largest electronic signals-intelligence complexes and is manned by experts who will now be able to gather critical information on the aircraft's capabilities, Pentagon sources said. Having had the chance to review intelligence materials -- including satellite images first reported by UPI and photos released by the Chinese -- Pentagon officials now say the impact of the midair collision on the aircraft was far more serious than originally thought and are giving all the credit for its safe landing to the "courageous" pilot. How much the crew managed to destroy before the Chinese got control of the aircraft on the ground will remain unknown until every one of the crew is interviewed by U.S. officials, the Navy source said. This diplomatic standoff has shaped up as Bush's first major foreign policy crisis, which comes at a time of increasing tensions between Washington and Beijing. Relations chilled markedly last month, when Bush refused to give visiting Chinese Vice Premier Qian Qichen assurances that the United States would not sell high-tech warships to Taiwan in the annual April arms deal between Washington and Taipei. The warships are equipped with the Navy's most advanced anti-missile radar system, called Aegis, and could be used to shoot down Chinese ballistic missiles. "This incident is cementing support behind providing Taiwan the weapons it needs," said Rep. Rohrabacher. "It also opens the door for the United States' providing weapons to countries like the Philippines who may also be threatened by Communist China." (Eli J. Lake at the State Department, Pamela Hess at the Pentagon and Mark Kukis at the White House contributed to this report.) By KATHERINE ARMS Copyright 2001 by United Press International. News provided by COMTEX comtexnews.com

To: long-gone who wrote (67194)	4/6/2001 3:39:04 PM
From: Hawkmoon	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 116753

Y'know what Richard... That's really weird. I was listening to the G. Gordon Liddy show on Monday and he had a call from a guy who claimed to be about to commit suicide. He was driving the around the beltway, he claimed, looking for a place to do himself. Liddy asked him if he had the means to do so, and the guy responded that he worked over at Langley and knew many ways of killing himself. He also mentioned he was in his 40's as well. Liddy had just had a previous guest who did this kind of intervention counseling and she came on the air and asked this guy to go off the air and talk with her. I have to believe that a million hearts went out in prayer, as I did, to this guy, who apparently had been divorced for 10 years and stated that he felt like a failure who could never do anything right. I'd lay you odds this was the same guy. Just incredibly sad to see such a waste of human life. Regards, Ron