CHINA - Now Bush expresses regret over Chinese pilot's death

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BBC hursday, 5 April, 2001, 18:45 GMT 19:45 UK

Bush 'regret' over Chinese jet row

A massive search for missing Chinese pilot continues US President George W Bush has expressed regret that a Chinese pilot remains missing after his jet collided with a US spy plane last Sunday.

But in comments to American newspaper editors, Mr Bush said China must act quickly to return the 24 US crew members who are being detained on an island in southern China.

He stopped short of issuing the apology that China is demanding and said the incident should not destabilise relations.

The dispute is the first major foreign policy test for the Bush administration which has signalled that it regards China as a growing threat to American security.

China has accused the US aircrew of being lawbreakers.

''The United States and China are heavily engaged in their discussions. We remain in a sensitive stage of those negotiations,'' White House spokesman Ari Fleischer said earlier.

The Chinese ambassador to Washington, Yang Jiechi, had his second meeting in two days at the State Department to discuss the impasse.

Initial step

In Beijing, a Chinese spokesman said a comments on Wednesday by US Secretary of State Colin Powell expressing regret over the missing Chinese pilot were a first step towards resolving the crisis.

But he said the crew members would remain in the country for interrogation.

A second meeting between the crew and US diplomats would depend on Washington offering a full apology and acceptance of wrongdoing, he said.

The 24 Americans have been held on Hainan Island in the South China Sea since making an emergency landing at a Chinese military base there after the collision.

Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Sun Yuxi, said: "The key is for the US side to adopt a co-operative attitude, admit its mistakes and make a formal apology."

Washington has ruled out an apology, saying the US crew did nothing wrong.

Missing pilot

China insists the US plane caused the crash about 60 miles south of Hainan. A huge search has failed to find the missing pilot, identified as Wang Wei.

It has emerged that Mr Powell has sent a letter about the dispute to the Chinese Deputy Prime Minister, Qian Qichen.

Officials have not revealed what is in the letter, but a BBC correspondent says that it is likely to be designed to lower the temperature.

Ideas being discussed between the two sides, and possibly offered in the letter, include a more detailed exchange of information about the collision itself and ways of avoiding similar incidents in future.

Last resort

If the conciliatory approach is not successful in securing the release of the crew and their plane, the Bush administration is likely to draw up a list of possible retaliatory measures.

These could include:

withdrawal of diplomats from Beijing cancellation of military liaison hindering China's entry to the World Trade Organisation cancellation of President Bush's planned visit to China in October opposing China's 2008 Olympics bid.

However, correspondents say such moves would be taken only as a last resort and very reluctantly and that the aim from the start for Washington has been to settle the dispute as quickly as possible, without loss of face on either side.

The Washington Post reported from Beijing that, according to Western sources, the collision took place when the Chinese plane was flying directly underneath the American aircraft which then banked to the left.

This might help explain Chinese claims that it was the American plane which was responsible for the incident.

Senator Richard Lugar, who sits on the Senate Intelligence Committee, said that the Chinese pilot had challenged US planes before but this time had "exceeded his grasp".

Crew members of the American plane are understood to have told US military attaché Brigadier General Neal Sealock about the destruction of the top secret information when they met him on Tuesday.

This allays fears in the US that American codes might fall wholesale into Chinese hands - but it is unclear whether all sensitive information was actually destroyed.

-- Anonymous, April 05, 2001


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