White House reiterates warnings
Tuesday, April 10, 2001 02:23 PM EDT
WASHINGTON, Apr 10, 2001 (United Press International via COMTEX) -- The Bush
administration Tuesday politely turned down an offer from civil rights leader
Jesse Jackson to mediate for the release of 24 crew members of the U.S. Navy spy
plane that made a forced landing in China April 1.
White House spokesman Ari Fleischer said Jackson's offer was "appreciated" but
that the administration preferred to use diplomatic channels to end the dispute.
Jackson, who has successfully negotiated the release of Americans on previous
occasions, offered to fly to China in an attempt to end the deadlock over
China's demand for a formal public apology from the United States for the
incident.
As the spy plane standoff entered Day 10, Fleischer also repeated warnings that
China's continued detention of the 21 men and three women crew members could
damage relations between Washington and Beijing.
"Every minute they're in China is too long," Fleischer said. The crew members
are being held by Chinese authorities on Hainan Island. Fleischer refused to
offer a timetable as to how long the standoff could last before hurting
U.S.-Sino ties, however.
In China, U.S. defense Attache Brig. Gen. Neal Sealock met with the crew for the
fifth time and said they were aware of the sensitive situation and the impasse
that prevented their release.
"They have great faith in what's taking place," he said. "They fully understand
the circumstances that they are under."
Sealock briefed Bush by phone and said the crew's spirits were "superb." The
crew had more freedom to move within the guesthouse where they have been
detained and that they have received copies of China's official English language
newspaper, the China Daily.
China on Tuesday again demanded that the United States apologize and take
responsibility for the April 1 collision between the U.S. Navy spy plane and a
Chinese fighter as the 24 American crew members spent a 10th day in detention
Tuesday. The United States has refused to do so though it softened its earlier
stance by saying it "regretted" the accident. On Sunday, Secretary of State
Colin Powell said he was "sorry" for the loss of the Chinese pilot.
However, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Zhu Bangzao called Washington's
official response to the incident over the South China Sea so far "unacceptable"
and highly unsatisfactory.
"Where is the responsibility? I think it's very clear," Zhu said late Monday
from Argentina, where he is on a visit with President Jiang Zemin.
"We ask the United States to take responsibility for this incident in a clear
and active way by apologizing to the Chinese people," the spokesman said.
Senior Foreign Ministry spokesman Sun Yuxi Tuesday said China hoped Washington
would come to a ``positive and cooperative attitude'' toward resolving the
stalemate.
``I hope the U.S. side will not further complicate the issue,'' Sun said.
President Bush said Monday the United States and China are using every available
diplomatic channel to resolve the stalemate. He acknowledged that diplomacy
takes time but warned that bilateral relations could be damaged if the crew
members are not freed soon.
But The New York Times reported Tuesday that Bush's senior advisers have
concluded for now that the most severe acts of retaliation that they could
threaten -- selling advanced arms to Taiwan, restricting trade, derailing
Beijing's bid for the Olympics -- would not speed the release of the crew and
could harm longer-term interests in Asia.
One official involved in the first review of those options said that "it became
clear how little room for maneuver either side has" in a relationship that is
"this interdependent and complex," the report said.
Members of the crew told U.S. diplomats that the EP-3E surveillance plane was
flying on auto pilot at the time of the collision with the Chinese F-8 jet. The
damaged Navy plane made an emergency landing on China's southern Hainan Island
following the collision. The Chinese fighter crashed, and its pilot is missing
and presumed dead.
Chinese officials Monday allowed U.S. diplomats to meet the crew for a fourth
time.
Meanwhile, in a shift in the U.S. position toward China, the State Department
has encouraged lawmakers to cancel planned trips there in light of the standoff,
a senior state department official told United Press International.
The official noted Monday that "most of the congressional delegations had
decided not to go before consulting us. In all cases we made sure to say it was
their decision, but when asked directly for advice we said it was probably not a
good time to go." This official added that the advice hinged on the fact that
diplomatic negotiations over the EP-3 surveillance plane and its 24 person crew
remained unresolved.
In at least one case, Powell personally advised a lawmaker leading a delegation
against going to China, the official said.
This appears to represent a significant shift of the administration's position
towards China. On April 5, Fleischer told reporters, "The White House is not
objecting to any trips that lawmakers have to China."
To date, separate congressional delegations led by Sens. Phil Gramm, R-Texas,
Don Nichols, R-Okla., Richard Shelby R-Ala., and Rep. David Dreier. R-Calif.,
all cancelled trips to China. In addition, a conference arranged by the Aspen
Institute for 20 U.S. lawmakers in China has also been scuttled. All of them
because of the current dispute over the EP-3 and its crew.
"It was Senator Shelby's thought that there would be nothing to discuss with
Beijing when they were holding 24 American service men and service women," his
spokeswoman Andrea Andrews told UPI.
"This was a low profile delegation," said the Aspen Institute's spokesman, James
Spiegelman. "Had this not had happened during the course of the spy plane
incident this would have gone on with very little fanfare."
The cancelled trips may be only the tip of the iceberg in freezing U.S. China
relations. After a bitter congressional fight over Permanent Normal Trade
Relations with China last year, some U.S. lawmakers that supported the bill are
changing their minds. Because Beijing is not likely to gain full membership in
the World Trade Organization in time, Congress may well have another bite at the
China trade apple this year.
Last year PNTR passed the House by 237 votes to 197, so if only 20 votes flip
this year the House could vote to reverse that position. House International
Relations Committee chairman, Henry Hyde, R-Ill., who supported PNTR last year,
changed his position last week in light of the spy plane row.
China insists the Navy plane veered suddenly into a Chinese fighter, sending it
plunging into the South China Sea. China is still searching for the pilot, Wang
Wei.
Although China blames the United States for the collision, Washington says it
was the Chinese fighter jet that hit the U.S. aircraft in an accident while
flying over international waters.
(With reporting by Katherine Arms in Hong Kong, Eli J. Lake at the State
Department and Mark Kukis at the White House)
Copyright 2001 by United Press International.
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