Bush 'troubled' by China's reaction to spy plane incident (CNN)

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Bush 'troubled' by China's reaction to spy plane incident The mid-air collision made news all over Chinese newspapers Monday Source: Chinese defy U.S., board aircraft April 2, 2001 Web posted at: 11:46 AM EDT (1546 GMT) From staff and wire reports WASHINGTON -- U.S. President George W. Bush is meeting with top security advisers in a bid to end a standoff over the fate over a U.S. spy plane held in China. In a scene reminiscent of the Cold War, U.S. officials have demanded Chinese officials stay away from a Navy plane equipped with some of America's most sophisticated spy technology. AUDIO U.S. ambassador to China Admiral Joseph Prueher says he still has not heard from the crew They have also demanded to speak to 24 U.S. crew members forced to land on China's Hainan island after colliding with a Chinese fighter jet on Sunday. As the standoff enters its second day, the United States says it will leave three warships in the South China Sea region to "monitor the situation," a U.S. defense official said. But the incident did not, for now, constitute a "serious threat" to U.S.-China relations, National Security Council spokeswoman Mary Ellen Countryman said, adding a quick resolution was in the interests of both countries who had recently expressed a desire for better relations. Officials from the U.S. Embassy in Beijing have arrived on the island in a bid to defuse the brewing diplomatic storm, after a U.S. Navy spy plane collided with one of two Chinese F-8 jet fighters sent to intercept it on Sunday. If the situation is not resolved quickly, it could lead to a full-blown diplomatic crisis, says CNN's senior Asian correspondent, Mike Chinoy. U.S. outcry Bush's meeting follows efforts by the U.S. ambassador to China to access the crew. They have not been heard from since they landed on Sunday. "What is hard for us to understand well and hard for me to explain to Secretary Powell is the inability to get a phone call through to the aircraft commander or to talk to the crew," said Joseph Prueher, the U.S. ambassador to China. Prueher said there was no legal basis for not being able to access the crew and aircraft, calling it "inexplicable and unacceptable". "The Chinese so far have given us no explanation for holding the crew." Under international guidelines, the aircraft -- which operates out of Japan -- is considered sovereign U.S. territory and China cannot seize, board or inspect the aircraft without the permission of the U.S. government. The crew is thought to be safe and unharmed, although the Chinese jet ditched into the South China Sea and its pilot remains missing, according to Beijing. Blame each other China has issued an angry statement saying its jet crashed after being rammed by the U.S. aircraft, and rescuers were still searching for a missing Chinese pilot. China says the plane entered its airspace and landed at one of its airports without its permission. China says it reserves the right to pursue the matter. Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Zhu Bangzo said two Chinese military planes were following the U.S. plane to monitor it. The Chinese planes "were flying normally" about 60 miles (100 kilometers) southeast of the Chinese island of Hainan when "the U.S. plane suddenly turned toward the Chinese plane," he said, in a statement. "The head and the left wing of the U.S. plane bumped into one of the Chinese planes, causing it to crash." But the head of the U.S. Pacific Command, Adm. Dennis Blair, said the crash was probably caused by the fighter bumping into the American plane and had been an accident waiting to happen because of the "aggressive" tactics of Chinese pilots. Diplomatic mission A three-person diplomatic team, staying at a resort roughly 60-60 miles away from the military base where the U.S. plane landed, is expected to meet local Chinese government officials of the island on Tuesday morning local time. The consular mission was sent to Hainan Island with the task of negotiating the return of the crew and its aircraft. U.S. Navy planes with classified equipment on board are used to fly missions along the edge of Chinese airspace to monitor electronic activity inside China. Need for quick resolution The collision comes at an already troubled time in U.S.-China relations, says CNN's Chinoy. It comes just ahead of the United States having to make a decision on arms sales to Taiwan, which China considers a renegade province. Over the last week, China has detained two Chinese-born scholars with U.S. links, while China's stand on human rights, particularly with regard to the spiritual Falun Gong movement, is being condemned. The new Bush administration already seems to be taking a harder line toward Beijing than former President Clinton had during his eight years in office.

http://www.cnn.com/2001/WORLD/asiapcf/east/04/02/china.aircollision.06/index.html

-- (don't@look.now), April 02, 2001

Answers

Bush 'troubled' by China's reaction to spy plane incident

The mid-air collision made news all over Chinese newspapers Monday

Source: Chinese defy U.S., board aircraft April 2, 2001 Web posted at: 11:46 AM EDT (1546 GMT)

From staff and wire reports WASHINGTON --

U.S. President George W. Bush is meeting with top security advisers in a bid to end a standoff over the fate over a U.S. spy plane held in China. In a scene reminiscent of the Cold War, U.S. officials have demanded Chinese officials stay away from a Navy plane equipped with some of America's most sophisticated spy technology.

U.S. ambassador to China Admiral Joseph Prueher says he still has not heard from the crew They have also demanded to speak to 24 U.S. crew members forced to land on China's Hainan island after colliding with a Chinese fighter jet on Sunday. As the standoff enters its second day, the United States says it will leave three warships in the South China Sea region to "monitor the situation," a U.S. defense official said.

But the incident did not, for now, constitute a "serious threat" to U.S.-China relations, National Security Council spokeswoman Mary Ellen Countryman said, adding a quick resolution was in the interests of both countries who had recently expressed a desire for better relations.

Officials from the U.S. Embassy in Beijing have arrived on the island in a bid to defuse the brewing diplomatic storm, after a U.S. Navy spy plane collided with one of two Chinese F-8 jet fighters sent to intercept it on Sunday. If the situation is not resolved quickly, it could lead to a full-blown diplomatic crisis, says CNN's senior Asian correspondent, Mike Chinoy. U.S. outcry Bush's meeting follows efforts by the U.S. ambassador to China to access the crew. They have not been heard from since they landed on Sunday.

"What is hard for us to understand well and hard for me to explain to Secretary Powell is the inability to get a phone call through to the aircraft commander or to talk to the crew," said Joseph Prueher, the U.S. ambassador to China.

Prueher said there was no legal basis for not being able to access the crew and aircraft, calling it "inexplicable and unacceptable".

"The Chinese so far have given us no explanation for holding the crew." Under international guidelines, the aircraft -- which operates out of Japan -- is considered sovereign U.S. territory and China cannot seize, board or inspect the aircraft without the permission of the U.S. government.

The crew is thought to be safe and unharmed, although the Chinese jet ditched into the South China Sea and its pilot remains missing, according to Beijing. Blame each other China has issued an angry statement saying its jet crashed after being rammed by the U.S. aircraft, and rescuers were still searching for a missing Chinese pilot.

China says the plane entered its airspace and landed at one of its airports without its permission. China says it reserves the right to pursue the matter. Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Zhu Bangzo said two Chinese military planes were following the U.S. plane to monitor it. The Chinese planes "were flying normally" about 60 miles (100 kilometers) southeast of the Chinese island of Hainan when "the U.S. plane suddenly turned toward the Chinese plane," he said, in a statement.

"The head and the left wing of the U.S. plane bumped into one of the Chinese planes, causing it to crash." But the head of the U.S. Pacific Command, Adm. Dennis Blair, said the crash was probably caused by the fighter bumping into the American plane and had been an accident waiting to happen because of the "aggressive" tactics of Chinese pilots. Diplomatic mission A three-person diplomatic team, staying at a resort roughly 60-60 miles away from the military base where the U.S. plane landed, is expected to meet local Chinese government officials of the island on Tuesday morning local time.

The consular mission was sent to Hainan Island with the task of negotiating the return of the crew and its aircraft. U.S. Navy planes with classified equipment on board are used to fly missions along the edge of Chinese airspace to monitor electronic activity inside China. Need for quick resolution The collision comes at an already troubled time in U.S.-China relations, says CNN's Chinoy. It comes just ahead of the United States having to make a decision on arms sales to Taiwan, which China considers a renegade province.

Over the last week, China has detained two Chinese-born scholars with U.S. links, while China's stand on human rights, particularly with regard to the spiritual Falun Gong movement, is being condemned. The new Bush administration already seems to be taking a harder line toward Beijing than former President Clinton had during his eight years in office.

http://www.cnn.com/2001/WORLD/asiapcf/east/04/02/china.aircollision.06 /index.html

-- (do@look.now), April 02, 2001.


link to tragic tale

-- (not@copy.cat), April 02, 2001.

Uh Oh, now THIS IS some scarey shit.

-- sumer (shh@aol.con), April 02, 2001.

Apr 2, 2001 - 02:50 PM

Bush Demands China Return Navy Plane, Crew By Robert Burns The Associated Press

WASHINGTON (AP) - President Bush on Monday demanded China arrange the "prompt and safe return" of 24 U.S. crew members and their plane packed with spy technology, seeking to end a standoff reminiscent of the Cold War. But despite U.S. demands for immediate access to the crew and aircraft, China indicated that access would not be granted before Tuesday night, China time, White House spokesman Scott McClellan said later.

"We find it very troubling about the lack of speed. We continue to press for prompt access," McClellan said.

Earlier, Bush said he was dismayed U.S. diplomats had not been given access to the crew after the plane made an emergency landing on the Chinese island of Hainan.

"I'm troubled by the lack of a timely Chinese response to this request for this access," he said on the White House lawn. Bush said failure to comply would be "inconsistent with standard diplomatic practice."

"Our priorities are the prompt and safe return of the crew and the return of the aircraft without further damaging or tampering," he said.

The U.S. plane collided with a Chinese jet fighter early Sunday. Pentagon spokesman Rear Adm. Craig Quigley said the spy plane's left engine and left wing were damaged. The plane is from an electronic reconnaissance squadron whose home base is Whidbey Island Naval Air Station in Washington state.

U.S. officials sought to keep Chinese officials from boarding the Navy plane and ordered three Navy destroyers to stay near the island.

At an appearance later Monday with Egypt's president, Bush declined to address reports Chinese officials may have boarded the U.S. plane but said he was sending a "very clear message and I expect them to heed the message." Bush also stated the United States believes its plane was in international airspace, not inside China.

Gen. Henry H. Shelton, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, protested the lack of access to the crew of the turboprop-driven EP- 3, which is about the size of a Boeing 737 commercial jetliner.

"Under international law, that should've happened long ago, Shelton said told editors. "We should have had access." He said it was "hard to imagine" the U.S. plane had initiated the collision.

China blames the U.S. plane for the crash, saying it suddenly veered into one of its F-8 fighters.

Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld said the crew had communicated after the collision to indicate no one was injured, but he said no one has spoken directly to them since they landed on Hainan.

Bush said U.S. officials had been in contact with the Chinese since the incident, which happened Saturday night U.S. time.

He offered assistance in finding the missing Chinese jet, one of two he said were shadowing the American plane when the collision happened. "Our military stands ready to help."

Chinese representatives have told U.S. officials the crew is safe, McClellan said.

The U.S. destroyers happened to have stopped at Hong Kong en route home from the Persian Gulf when the EP-3 was forced to land, two officials said, speaking on condition of anonymity.

The destroyers will remain in the area indefinitely instead of resuming their journey home, the officials said.

Bush discussed the incident Monday with his national security team, including Secretary of State Colin Powell, Rumsfeld and Condoleezza Rice, the national security adviser to the president.

A senior U.S. Navy admiral said Monday that Chinese officials have no right to board the U.S. plane.

Adm. Dennis Blair, commander in chief of the U.S. Pacific Command, said the plane, which contains sensitive cryptological and other electronic surveillance equipment, is considered sovereign territory, similar to an embassy.

"We physically cannot prevent the Chinese from boarding the plane," he said on ABC's "Good Morning America."

"What protects the plane really is the concept of sovereign immunity."

Standard procedure under the circumstances would call for the EP-3 crew to destroy as much of the plane's highly sensitive surveillance equipment as possible once it landed on Chinese territory, said another U.S. official, speaking on condition of anonymity.

One official said that shortly after the collision the crew sent two messages - one to indicate no one aboard had been injured in the collision and another to indicate the plane had landed safely.

American officials say they don't know if Chinese officials have boarded the plane since it made the emergency landing.

"Our primary objective now is to get in touch with our people and ensure they are OK and get them back," Blair said. Fixing the plane and getting it back "is our second order of business here."

U.S. officials say the surveillance plane was on a routine mission when it was intercepted by two Chinese F-8 fighters. The Chinese plane's pilot is missing.

Blair said that without talking to the crew, U.S. officials won't know who was responsible for the collision.

"But I can tell you the rules of international air space are that the smaller, faster aircraft has the responsibility for staying clear of the larger, slower aircraft," he said. "And I know from practice that our aircraft like the EP-3 fly straight and level with great care."

The Chinese jet is smaller.

Blair said he has no doubt the plane was in international air space when the collision occurred.

The incident follows an increase in tensions between the United States and China. China has been concerned about new arms sales to Taiwan, which China considers its own territory. Washington has protested the arrest of two scholars linked to the United States.

Senate Majority Leader Trent Lott told a news conference that the the incident with the spy plane is a "delicate matter" for U.S.-Chinese relations. "I think, for the Senate and for us and for the Chinese government, to keep a calm relationship and a constructive one and ... to lower the temperature is the right way to proceed," he said.



-- the original (don't@look.now), April 02, 2001.


Apr 2, 2001 - 02:28 PM

More Stress for US-China Relationship An AP News Analysis

By Robert Burns The Associated Press

WASHINGTON (AP) - The collision of an American spy plane with a Chinese fighter jet adds a new dimension to the tension between the United States and China over the future of the independence-minded island of Taiwan. The incident, even if resolved quickly, could influence debate within the Bush administration on the kinds of advanced weaponry to sell to Taiwan. The president is expected to decide this month whether to grant Taiwan's request to buy new destroyers equipped with Aegis radar, a deal China strongly opposes.

That decision will depend on "how the Chinese are acting," Gen. Henry H. Shelton, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, said Monday. Shelton said he had not yet made a recommendation to President Bush.

The incident Sunday in which a Chinese fighter jet collided with a U.S. Navy EP-3E Aries II electronic surveillance plane over the South China Sea comes at a particularly sensitive point for U.S.-China relations.

In addition to the issue of arms sales to Taiwan, there also is tension over China's detention of visiting American scholars, the recent defection of a high-ranking Chinese army officer and U.S. plans to build a national missile defense. The Bush administration also is reviewing U.S.-China military relations.

Navy spy planes routinely fly along China's southeastern coastline to monitor military activity, including a continuing buildup of land- based ballistic missiles that target Taiwan. It's also routine for Chinese fighter planes to intercept the U.S. reconnaissance planes and approach to within a safe distance.

In recent months, however, the Chinese pilots have flown so close in that area that American officials complained, said Adm. Dennis Blair, commander of the U.S. Pacific Command.

Putting the best face on the situation, Blair said that by resolving the matter quickly the Chinese government could demonstrate "this is not a Cold War mentality any more" and the two countries can have a constructive relationship. "This could be a positive," the four-star admiral said.

Anthony Cordesman, a military analyst with the Center for Strategic and International Studies, a Washington think tank, said Monday he doubts that the incident was a provocation authorized from Beijing.

"I find it difficult to believe that anybody would task a fighter pilot to do anything this reckless," Cordesman said. "It was a remarkably inept action on the part of the Chinese fighter pilots."

Doug Paal, who was an Asia specialist on the National Security Council during the Reagan and first Bush administrations, said he believes the incident caught Beijing's leaders by surprise, and that this explains - at least in part - the sluggish Chinese response to U.S. requests for access to the crew.

Paal believes the incident will have no immediate impact on the Taiwan issue, although that remains the central source of strain in the U.S.-China relationship.

China considers Taiwan a renegade province and reserves the right to reunite it with the mainland, by force if necessary. The United States is committed to providing Taiwan with a sufficient defense.

Tensions over Taiwan rose to a new level in 1996 when China fired missiles across the strait toward Taiwan in an act calculated to influence the island's first direct presidential election. In response, the United States sent an aircraft carrier to the area. Official military-to-military relations between the United States and China were severed, then gradually restored until the May 1999 U.S. bombing of the Chinese Embassy in Belgrade, which again threw relations into a tailspin.

-- (more@icing.on the cake), April 02, 2001.



"Don't Look Now" (original) -- I'm sorry. I wasn't trying to steal your handle or cause trouble. I was trying to think up something half- stupid for comic relief from the article and must've rememberd your handle from the line below, no harm meant! Really! I won't use that handle again.

-- (not@copy.cat), April 02, 2001.

Shame on you, you're BAD!

Go see Unk for your spanking.

-- (terrible thing @ you. did), April 02, 2001.


Mmm. I like spankings!

-- (not@copy.cat), April 02, 2001.

Hey, it was a 1940's vintage prop job. Have them trade us a few pallettes of new toaster ovens and let 'em keep it.

-- (@ .), April 02, 2001.

China is talking war. Think Bush will give it to them?

-- Cherri (jessam5@home.com), April 02, 2001.


China was talking nuclear secret. Think Clinton gave it to them?

-- J (Y2J@home.comm), April 02, 2001.

“Hey, it was a 1940's vintage prop job.”

Don’t think so Mr. @, the E3 is in fact another version of the P3 Orion Sub Killer put in service by the Navy in 1959. Powered by four Allison turbo props, this unit will scream at about 575 mph. Some of you mature types might remember that this aircraft started out as the Lockheed Electra for commercial passenger service. After some airframe problems (a few wings fell off) the plane was retired from commercial service, refitted, and became the Navy’s replacement for the old P2 Neptune. One hell of a bird…$40M a copy.

-- So (cr@t.es), April 02, 2001.


J,

What is your point? Just because Clinton did something that justifies Dubya's actions?

I thought Dubya was God's own salvation to America. He was so much better than that Anti-Christ Klinton that we would all be uplifted from the hard times of the eight years of the evil King Bill.

Now you are trying to justify Dubya by saying his actions are no worse than Clintons??????????

Sorry but you lost me there. Of course you lost me when you tried to justify the Oklahoma City bombing as a patriotic act that the dirty government bastards had coming to them.

I was going to say that you amaze me but you really don't. You just confirm my worst fears about the years to come.

-- Jack Booted Thug (governmentconspiracy@NWO.com), April 02, 2001.


Jack Booted Thug,

Don't get your panties all-a-twist there, son.

My point is that most of Cherri's posts are barely lucid, and this one was no different. I answered her inane post with an equally inane response. I am not trying to justify Bush, for he needs no justification. I was merely trying to point out the silliness of Cherri's post.

Besides from Cherri, I have heard nowhere else that "China is talking war". Even if they are, is she so cinder block dumb as to think that Bush will just throw his arms in the air, shout Yee-Haa, and push the button? Her post doesn't impress me any more than that, so maybe she is.

Your response was quite disappointing to me, as you, on the other hand, are usually a worthy opponent. Are you feeling well? Maybe you should just go out and violate the Constitution a few times, that will make you feel better. : )

-- J (Y2J@home.comm), April 03, 2001.

Dennis/J, where are you working these days?

-- Jesus (martinez@mexico.gov), April 03, 2001.


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