Friday, 6 April, 2001, 22:08 GMT 23:08 UK

Spy plane crew 'in great spirits'

A blurry photo of the crew has been released

A US diplomat has met the crew of an American spy plane who are being held in China, amid signs of progress towards a resolution to the crisis.

"The crew is in great spirits, they're all together, they're looking forward to being released and returning home," said Brigadier General Neal Sealock, the US military attaché in Beijing.

In Washington, the Chinese ambassador, Yang Jiechi, is due to meet a senior American state department official shortly.

Diplomatic efforts are believed to be focusing on formulating an agreement setting out a joint understanding of the incident.

President George Bush expressed optimism about negotiations on Friday, saying: "We're working hard to bring them home and we think we're making progress."

The 21 men and three women are at a secret location in Haikou, the capital of Hainan Island.

They have been detained there since their EP-3 surveillance plane was forced to land following a collision with a Chinese fighter jet over the South China Sea on Sunday.

Pilot blames US

The Chinese plane crashed into the sea and the pilot, Wang Wei, is missing, presumed dead.

On Friday, the pilot of the second fighter jet shadowing the US spy plane appeared on Chinese television and pinned the blame for the accident on the American aircraft.

"Wan Wei's plane had no way to evade it... it suddenly collided with him," said the pilot, Zhao Yu.

Shaking his fist in anger, he added: "The outer propeller on the left wing hit the tailplane of Wang Wei's aircraft... it was smashed to bits."

The US authorities have released footage from a previous flight showing how close, they say, Chinese aircraft regularly come to their planes.

Regular meetings

Following Brigadier General Sealock's meeting with the crew - at which no Chinese officials were present, according to Mr Fleischer - US Secretary of State Colin Powell said he was confident the Chinese were "taking good care of our men and women".

He added that the Beijing authorities had now agreed to allow US officials to see the crew regularly.

A meeting has already been arranged for Saturday. Neither Mr Powell nor Mr Fleischer would comment on the implications of the secretary of state's statement about further regular meetings with the crew.

Friday's meeting was only the second time in six days that US diplomats had seen the crew.

Chinese 'exasperated'

The Chinese President, Jiang Zemin, has repeated his demand that the US apologise for the mid-air collision.

"I have visited many countries and I see that when people have an accident, the two groups involved... always say 'excuse me'," Mr Jiang said, speaking in Santiago, Chile, at the start of a 12-day Latin American tour.

Mr Jiang added that Chinese officials were exasperated by continued US surveillance flights.

"American planes come to the edge of our country... this sort of conduct is not acceptable in any country."

Washington is refusing to say sorry for something it does not admit responsibility for, although on Thursday Mr Bush did express regret for the accident.

The BBC's Duncan Hewitt in Hainan says that while the Chinese Government will take Mr Bush's words seriously, it is also under pressure from public opinion which is opposed to US surveillance flights.

-- Anonymous, April 06, 2001

Answers

Is it me, or does the guy on the left behind the girl in front look like his face has been smacked around a bit?

To me, his left eye looks a little swollen, and along the jaw line it looks really red.

None of them look happy at all. :(

-- Anonymous, April 06, 2001

It's hard to tell, Sheeps, the quality of the photograph is so bad. I wouldn't draw any conclusions yet. (I've seen snapshots of mmyself that look nearly as bad!) I suspect the Chinese released the worst photographs, so as to inflame the public to put pressure on Bush for an apology and a quick release. Just a guess. We have to remember they don't think the way we do--I'm not sure just HOW they think, but a lot of "face" is involved.

-- Anonymous, April 06, 2001

You'd think they'd know how to use a fucking camera...

-- Anonymous, April 07, 2001

Probly too busy manufacturing 'em.

-- Anonymous, April 07, 2001

[The Atlanta Journal-Constitution: 4.7.2001]

CNN offers little explanation as to how it came across this grainy, overexposed photograph of some of the crew members who are in China.

Crew photo, 'videophone' boost CNN's coverage

By John Druckenmiller Atlanta Journal-Constitution Staff Writer

CNN's two big breaks Friday in its coverage of the U.S. spy plane controversy came courtesy of high-tech gadgetry and a little mystery.

The first was a grainy, overexposed photograph showing some of the 24 crew members of the damaged Navy EP-3E surveillance plane.

This text -- "CNN has obtained this photo of some of the crew members" -- accompanies the picture on the network's Web site, www.cnn.com. No other explanation, including how CNN got custody of the photograph, was given.

A CNN spokeswoman in Atlanta would only say "we did not pay for the photo."

CNN employees were more talkative about the "videophone" being used to send live reports from Hainan, where the U.S. crew is being held.

Beijing-based producer/correspondent Lisa Rose Weaver and crew are equipped with a satellite phone, one of the first "resources" CNN sends to areas where normal access is limited or just doesn't exist, a network spokeswoman says.

To file reports, the crew basically hooks a camera to the suitcase-sized telephone and sends the signal to the satellite. It is then downlinked by either CNN's London bureau or Atlanta offices for use on air and the Web.

Weaver's report on CNN around noon Friday was not studio quality but was clearer and much easier to understand than most standard Webcasts. The image jiggled a bit, and the audio was not what you're used to from TV but it was easy to follow.

Ten of CNN's 30 international bureaus have the satellite phones; eventually all international bureaus will have them. Each phone and the required video image equipment together cost about $25,000.

Videophones recently played a key role in CNN's coverage of the devastating earthquake in India. A news team was reporting from the quake's epicenter the same day it struck.

It took six days to get the "heavy equipment" -- satellite trucks and the like -- to the site.

-- Anonymous, April 07, 2001