Thursday April 19 6:57 AM ET
China Says Video Shows U.S. Plane Caused Crash

By Paul Eckert

BEIJING (Reuters) - China showed video footage and photographs Thursday of what it called ``very convincing'' proof that the U.S. spy plane was to blame for the collision at the heart of a diplomatic standoff.

In a tit-for-tat reply to U.S. images and comments blaming China for the April 1 collision, the Foreign Ministry showed photographs of the damaged U.S. EP-3 plane, an animated simulation and a video of an encounter between Chinese and U.S. fighters.

``China has large quantities of evidence, of which this is just a small portion,'' Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Zhang Qiyue told a news conference after Chinese and U.S. negotiators Wrapped up two days of inconclusive talks on the incident.

She said the evidence was shown to a U.S. negotiating team during five hours of talks Wednesday and Thursday at which Beijing repeated its demand that Washington stop surveillance flights near its coastal waters.

The U.S. team said the talks were ``very productive'' but made no immediate further comment.

``Very Convincing''

Zhang showed three photographs of the damaged EP-3 that China is still holding on Hainan island. The United States is demanding its return.

Zhang said damage to the wing flaps, propeller and front of the EP-3 fuselage all supported China's claim, first made within hours of the April 1 collision, that the U.S. spy plane made a ``sharp leftward lurch'' and hit the intercepting Chinese fighter.

She also presented an animation depicting China's version of the crash, which is vigorously contested by the United States.

After the collision, the U.S. plane made an emergency landing on Hainan island, where its 24-member crew were detained for 11 days.

They were freed after Washington said it was ``very sorry'' for the Chinese pilot's death and for the crippled EP-3 landing on Chinese territory without permission.

The Chinese jet plunged into the South China Sea and its pilot, Wang Wei, was never recovered despite a two-week search.

Zhang also showed a short video clip of what she said was the interception by three Chinese fighters of a U.S. fighter last year over waters near China's coast.

It was taken by a Chinese fighter pilot and showed a U.S. aviator in an F-14 Tomcat taking photographs of a second Chinese fighter in what Zhang said was evidence the U.S. plane made dangerous moves.

``The video and pictures I played are very convincing. They showed that the Chinese side had a lot of conclusive evidence to show that the responsibility of the collision lies on the U.S. side,'' she said.

U.S. Sees Error By Daredevil

The United States says the crash was caused when Wang flew his jet a dangerous three feet (one meter) from the U.S. spy plane, lost control, and careened into the propeller and nose cone of the U.S aircraft, which its crew said was on autopilot.

Western military analysts say it was unlikely the lumbering EP-3 turboprop could have made the sharp turn China has described and improbable it could have hit the more nimble and faster Chinese jet.

The United States, which accuses Wang of dangerous flying in previous interceptions of American spy planes, released video footage from earlier this year showing him making harrowingly close passes in front to a U.S. surveillance plane.

It also issued a photograph of Wang holding up a piece of paper with his e-mail address written on it as he flew past.

Zhang dismissed as ``irresponsible remarks'' U.S. assertions that China was at fault for the crash and repeated Beijing's demand that the United States stop surveillance flights near China's coast.

``The fundamental cause of this incident is that the United States frequently sends surveillance planes into waters near China's coast,'' she said.

``To prevent a recurrence of such incidents, the U.S. must halt such surveillance flights,'' Zhang said.

The United States has ruled out stopping the flights, saying they take place over international waters and are legal.

-- Anonymous, April 19, 2001

Answers

The Chinese have nothing to substantiate their claim that we caused the accident. Anybody can make an animated simulation of anything. It's trash. The fact remains that *unless* the fighter was tucked up right under the left wing, our plane could not have hit it regardless of how unexepected a turn to the left was made. The Chinese hot shot was too close, even using the Chinese version.

Of course I don't believe for one minute that we hit their bozo. I feel confident he was doing stupid close passes and accidentally ran right into the left engines of our plane. What troubles me the most is both the intransigence of the Chinese about this and the fact that they have decided to make their pilot a national hero, which they can't easily back off from now. They are going to keep saying it was our fault, right to the bitter end of this.

I think we should remove them from favored trade treatment and slowly look elsewhere for our cheap imports. Also, sell Taiwan better defense equipment. Lastly, pressure the Olympic committe to remove China from consideration in the 2008 Olympics. We are dealing with a bunch of lying military dictators over there, plain and simple.

-- Anonymous, April 19, 2001

If every American were to boycott Chinese products, even those of US companies, we would have the upper hand and those companies would be looking in this hemisphere for a place to manufacture, or Taiwan or Thailand. Its the one time that the People have the Power to make change.

-- Anonymous, April 19, 2001