Detained crew in 'great spirits'
Friday, April 06, 2001 01:54 PM EDT
HONG KONG, Apr 06, 2001 (United Press International via COMTEX) -- U.S.
diplomats on Friday reported that 24 Navy personnel were in "great spirits" even
though they have been held in custody since their sophisticated surveillance
airplane made an emergency landing at a military base on the Chinese island of
Hainan last Sunday.
After U.S. officials met with the 21 men and three women from the Navy plane,
Brig. Gen. Neal Sealock, the U.S. military attache in Beijing, said: "The crew
is in great spirits. They're all together. They're looking forward to being
released and returning home."
The meeting Friday was the second between U.S. officials and the Navy personnel.
In a pervious meeting on Tuesday, U.S. diplomats met the crew as a group and in
the presence of Chinese authorities, limiting what could be discussed. It was
not announced whether the same rules would apply for Friday's session.
U.S. Ambassador to China Joseph Prueher told reporters in Beijing that a third
meeting between the diplomats and Navy personnel had been scheduled for
Saturday. The sessions come after the Navy EP-3 collided with a Chinese fighter
jet over the South China Sea on Sunday. The heavily damaged Navy plane made a
safe landing, but the jet was lost and its pilot has not been found.
Chinese officials have been talking with crew members as part of their
investigation into the mishap.
The diplomat-crew meetings were seen as a sign of progress in the standoff
between Beijing and Washington. White House spokesman Ari Fleischer said
President George W. Bush "believes we are moving forward because of the tenor of
the diplomatic discussions."
But China's Foreign Ministry on Friday repeated Beijing's demand for an apology
for the collision.
"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 Bush expressed 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.
During a visit to Chile late Thursday, Chinese President Jiang Zemin said
Beijing and Washington must take care in handling the dispute. He said the crew
members were safe and that the damaged U.S. plane was 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,'" he said.
China's official Xinhua news agency issued a commentary Friday restating China's
position that the United States was to blame for the collision.
"It is clear that the U.S. plane broke flight rules and made dangerous
movements, causing the crash of the Chinese jet and the missing of the Chinese
pilot, and violated international and Chinese laws," it said. "The acts of the
U.S. plane violated the U.N. Convention on the Law of the Sea and are against
the consensus reached between China and the United States in May last year on
avoiding military risks in sea areas."
"Just as Chinese President Jiang Zemin said, the U.S. side is fully responsible
for the incident and should apologize to the Chinese people."
Xinhua also on Friday provided a statement by a witness who said he could
confirm the United States was to blame for the collision. Zhao Yu, a Chinese
fighter pilot who the agency said saw the U.S. military plane's "bumping into
and damaging of a Chinese jet fighter Sunday morning, confirmed Friday that the
U.S. side is fully responsible for the incident."
Jiang began a tour of Latin American capitals Thursday, starting with Santiago,
Chile. In Washington, Chinese Ambassador Yang Jiechi was at the U.S. State
Department for the fourth time in as many days, meeting with Deputy Secretary of
State Richard Armitage, who has emerged as one of the key players in the
administration's handling of the crisis.
State Department spokesman Richard Boucher confirmed that the crew members,
detained in a dormitory-like unit on the Lingshui air base on Hainan, were in
good health and condition.
According to published reports, 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. planes -- so close they could see the helmet markings and the tail
number.
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 United Press International and photos released by the
Chinese -- Pentagon officials said 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 sensitive information and equipment the crew was able to destroy before
the Chinese took control of the aircraft after it landed 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. Dana Rohrabacher, R-Calif. "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.
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