A couple of articles today...U.S. Says Ties with Beijing at Risk Over Plane
Note: Our government is stressing the difference between surveillance and spy plane/equipment/etc...(Spy would mean actually over their land, or in their land, and surveillance means NOT in their land, nor over their land...) ..
Also, it would appear if we apologize, it would open the 24 crew to a possible trial. Personally, I can't understand why anyone would think WE should apologize....Truly, THEY are the ones that should apologize...They, it appears, were trying to play with our plane in INTERNATIONAL waters, and caused the mess in the first place. Plus, they are holding our crew.
The P-3's DON'T have ejection equipment...Does this plane have ejection equipment??? ....the fighter planes do. Here's the article...
go2net.com
U.S. Says Ties with Beijing at Risk Over Plane
Apr 8 12:25pm ET
By Sue Pleming
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The United States said on Sunday long-term relations with China were at risk because of the U.S. spy plane impasse and Vice President Dick Cheney insisted Washington would not apologize over the incident.
Cheney and Secretary of State Colin Powell struck a more unyielding tone than in previous days, saying the U.S.-China relationship was being damaged by China's continued detention of 24 U.S. crew members and their surveillance plane.
"The longer this goes on without resolution, clearly the more difficult it becomes to manage the relationship and avoid risk to the long-term relationship with China, but we are making progress," Cheney told ABC's "This Week" program.
Powell said the Chinese authorities needed to quickly release the Americans and that damage could extend to the lucrative trade front where Beijing risks losing additional votes to keep its favorable trading status.
"The relationship is being damaged," Powell told the "Fox News Sunday" program. "In order for the damage to be undone and for no further damage to occur, we've got to bring this matter to a close as soon as possible."
Powell said strains were already beginning to show in relations between the two countries, including the cancellation of trips by congressional delegations to China and from U.S. business officials.
"They're also saying, 'You know, Secretary Powell, you'll have a much more difficult time with ... getting another permanent normal trade relations (PNTR) bill through if you don't get World Trade Organization (WTO) accession this year,"' Powell said on CBS' "Face the Nation" program.
Cheney was insistent the United States would not offer the full apology demanded by China for the incident, in which the pilot of a Chinese fighter jet is missing and presumed dead.
"The president has made it clear we regret the loss of the Chinese pilot as a result of this accident. The notion that we would apologize for being in international air space, for example, is not something we can accept," Cheney said in an interview with NBC's "Meet the Press" program.
NOTHING TO APOLOGIZE FOR
Pressed on whether the United States had anything to apologize for, Cheney said: "No, I don't believe we do."
The vice president said intense diplomatic efforts continued for the release of the crew and the U.S. Navy EP-3 surveillance plane, which made an emergency landing on Hainan island after colliding with the Chinese fighter plane.
"We are engaged, I would say, in intense diplomatic activity on the issue with respect to the EP-3 in China, but there is nothing new to announce at this point," he told ABC.
Republican lawmaker Rep. Henry Hyde, chairman of the House International Relations Committee, said on Saturday he viewed the detained crew by China as "hostages", but Cheney said he did not see it that way.
The vice president said it was essential that "quiet diplomacy" be used to resolve the issue rather than the situation be inflamed by the use of "hot button" words.
U.S. officials held a third meeting with several of the detained crew members on Saturday and reported they were "in very good spirits" and had been treated well.
Republican Sen. Richard Shelby, who heads the Senate Intelligence Committee, said he hoped the current impasse with China could be resolved in the next 24 to 48 hours, adding there was growing impatience in Congress over the issue.
"Every hour, every day, every week this goes on does not bode well for U.S.-Chinese relations," Shelby told NBC.
Democratic Sen. John Edwards of North Carolina said his party supported Bush's handling of the situation. "It's very important for the Chinese people to understand that we are unified on this. I think the administration has had a measured response to the situation," Edwards said on the same program.
In a letter to Powell released by the Chinese news agency Xinhua on Saturday, Vice Premier Qian Qichen said Beijing was "dissatisfied" with Bush's expression of regret for the apparent loss of the Chinese pilot's life, adding an apology was of "the utmost importance".
Bush also received a letter from the wife of the missing Chinese pilot who accused the president of cowardice and defaming her husband Wang Wei.
Asked about Bush's response to the widow's letter, Powell said, "The purpose of the letter is to respond in a humanitarian way, in an American way, to a widow who is grieving. Whatever you think about the politics of it, she has lost her husband."
White House National Security Council spokeswoman Mary Ellen Countryman said Bush had not yet sent the letter, but was expected to "pretty quickly". |
