ET

Chinese pilot 'known to be a danger'

By Toby Harnden in Washington

THE Chinese fighter pilot presumed dead after a mid-air collision with a US spy plane had flown dangerously close to American aircraft before and was known as a hazard, Pentagon officials said last night.

Wang Wei, a naval officer who is thought to have ejected from his F-8 jet before it hit the sea, has been blamed by Washington for the weekend collision that has triggered a potential crisis in US-Sino relations. A Bush administration official said that Wang had been photographed by cameras mounted on American spy planes as he flew within feet of them.

He said: "We have photos of pilots' faces. It was not the first time this individual had been that close to an aircraft. The number of intercepts and their aggressiveness has increased in recent weeks." The allegation seemed certain to heighten tensions. Chinese state media had already begun to laud the pilot as a hero martyred by reckless American actions.

Satellite photo of spy plane at Lingshui military airfield

Striking a more conciliatory note, Gen Colin Powell, the Secretary of State, said: "We regret that the Chinese plane did not get down safely and we regret the loss of the life of that Chinese pilot. But now we need to bring this to a resolution. We are using every avenue available to us to talk to the Chinese side to exchange explanations and move on."

Although this stopped short of an apology, as China has demanded, the Chinese embassy in Washington said it was "a step in the right direction". American diplomats were trying to assess whether they could draft a form of words that would be acceptable.

Angry exchanges between the two countries had intensified earlier yesterday, the fourth day of the stand-off over Beijing's decision not to release the 24-member crew of the EP-3 Aries spy plane, which made a forced landing on the militarised Hainan island, off southern China. Tang Jiaxuan, the Chinese foreign minister, accused America of having an "arrogant air".

Jiang Zemin, the president, said that Washington "should bear all responsibilities for the collision incident" and added: "The US side should apologise to the Chinese people." The White House ruled that out. Ari Fleischer, President Bush's spokesman, said: "The United States government does not understand the reason for an apology.

"Our airplane was operating in international air space and the crew did nothing wrong." In the last minutes before the collision, technicians on the EP-3 were likely to have been able to monitor Wang's radio transmissions to and from Hainan, as well as any conversations he had with the pilot of the jet accompanying him.

Blaming Wang for the collision, Washington said: "There is no question which aircraft collided with which." The four-engine subsonic turboprop EP-3 had been flying "straight and level" while the jet was manoeuvring at supersonic speed. This was "not a great match for flying formation" and while the collision had been unintentional "it was not an accident that they were that close".

Pentagon sources said that Chinese pilots were poorly trained and frequently made mistakes while flying. But the jets had continued to conduct aggressive close intercepts despite repeated American requests not to. A source quoted by the Washington Times said: "Lately we saw some unsafe flying practices coming within 30ft. This was more like flying cowboys . . . If anything goes wrong, that's not a lot of room for correction."

By yesterday China had sent 48 planes and 29 ships to search for Wang. President Bush has resisted apologising because the collision took place in international air space and was not the fault of the EP-3. The nose cone, part of a wing and one of the EP-3's four engines were sheared off by the jet. It took the pilot five minutes to regain control.

It was not known how many of the "emergency destruction" procedures had been followed in the 20 minutes it took to land on Hainan, from where Wang had taken off. The Pentagon claimed that crew members "successfully executed" the destruction of spy material even though their lives were in danger.

But Adml Joseph Prueher, ambassador to Beijing, conceded that the Chinese would have been able to gain access to highly sensitive and top secret equipment.

-- Anonymous, April 04, 2001

Answers

From the start of all this I have thought it was the Chinese fighter pilot who caused all this to happen. Consider, we have a large 4 engine US surveillance aircraft cruising along the outer edge of Chinese airspace, maintaining a constant altitude, speed, and heading, for the most part. Along comes a little Chinese jet fighter, highly manueverable, and it pulls up right along side the big US aircraft, then through miscalculation on the part of the fighter pilot he bumps into the US plane. That's what had to have happened. And the Chinese government *knows* that is what happened, but now they want to pretend the collision was the fault of the US crew. Baloney! They owe us an apology for ruining our plane, but of course since they now have full control of that plane on the ground they will maintain this bizarre posture of being the victim. Typical Chinese government policy.

-- Anonymous, April 05, 2001

I wonder if the plane has film of the pilot causing the accident? If so, it's in the hands of the Chinese now.

-- Anonymous, April 05, 2001

How could the US plane cause that accident? They were over international waters, or so it is being said so far. Regardless, even if they were a couple miles inside the Chinese declared zone there is no way the recon plane could maneuver quickly enough to hit the Chinese fighter, unless the fighter was sitting within 25-50 feet along side the US plane. The fighter can move quickly, the recon plane cannot. It's that simple. If the fighter was trying to force the US plane to turn toward China we still could have refused and made a slow turn out toward the ocean, which is what the crew would likely have been trying to do. Maybe the fighter sat in their way and as they turned out to sea there was a collision. Still the fault of Chinese, any way you cut it.

We both spy on each other, everybody knows that. The Chinese have people right here, right now in the US, doing everything they can to get our best kept secrets, using any means possible. We know that. They know that. For the Chinese to pretend the recon plane was some sort of violation of law is total arrogance.

No, they are just saying what they are saying to buy time. They would like to have a month or more, I bet, in order to take apart everything in that plane. And also to interrogate the crew and maybe break down a few of our folks. And, from what I see happening, they will likely get that month. We are already finishing up the first week without any meaningful progress.

-- Anonymous, April 05, 2001