US diplomats head for stranded plane

6.00 pm - Update

BEIJING - US diplomats are scrambling to China's southern island of Hainan where a damaged US spy plane and its 24 crew made an emergency landing after a mid-air collision with a Chinese fighter plane.

Washington has called for the return of the crew and sophisticated surveillance aircraft, and has made clear it expects China to keep its hands off the plane, a potential treasure trove of military intelligence.

There has been no contact with the plane since it sent out a message after landing early this morning at Lingshui military airport on the southern edge of the tropical island of Hainan.

But Chinese authorities have told US officials all the Americans are safe.

Beijing has said the fighter crashed after the collision over the South China Sea in international air
space and a search is underway for the pilot.

It was not clear whether the US embassy and consular officials on their way to Hainan would be allowed access to the crew. Nor was it known whether the crew were still on board the EP-3 Marine plane which sent out a "Mayday" distress signal before limping into Hainan.

The United States has launched a flurry of diplomatic activity in Beijing and Washington to try to resolve an incident that could, if it drags on, inflame popular emotions in China and the United States and sour relations between the countries at a delicate juncture.

"We've had conversations with the Chinese at senior levels in Beijing and Washington," said a US embassy spokesman in Beijing.

He said the United States had offered help in the search and rescue effort for the missing Chinese airman.

China and the United States blamed each for the mid-air tangle during what was apparently a routine game of cat and mouse played off the Chinese coast.

China issued an angry statement saying the four-engine propeller-driven US aircraft veered into the fighter and hit with its nose and left wing.

But the head of the US Pacific Command, Admiral Dennis Blair, said it was probably an accident caused by the fighter bumping into the American plane.

"If I had to guess right now, I would say it's an accident, it's not a normal practice to play bumper cars in the air, it's too dangerous for everybody," Blair told a news conference in Hawaii.

Blair complained that Chinese interceptions had become more aggressive over the past several months "to the point that we felt that they were endangering the safety of Chinese and American aircraft."

China sent up two F-8 fighters to intercept the lumbering American aircraft based in Okinawa in Japan.

The embassy spokesman said Washington had emphasised China should "respect the integrity of the aircraft and the well-being and safety of the crew in accordance with international practice."

Washington also expected China to help facilitate any repairs to the plane.

The incident threatened to damage China-US relations at a time when US President Bush is weighing his strategy toward China and faces a crucial decision on whether to sell advanced weapon systems to Taiwan.

A Foreign Ministry statement said Beijing had lodged a "solemn representation and protest" and reserved the right to seek damages.

It threatened further "representations" over the plane entering Chinese air space and landing without permission.

Whether the incident does serious political damage may depend on how quickly Beijing returns the crew and plane.

"A lot depends on what the Chinese do in the next couple of days," said Bates Gill, head of the Center for Northeast Asia Policy Studies at the Brookings Institution.

He said the longer the crew is held, the more US concerns will grow and the more Bush will come under domestic pressure to view China in a "threatening way."

That scenario could make it harder for Bush to resist arguments in favour of selling a package of advanced weapons to Taiwan to defend itself against China, which regards the island as a breakaway province.

China is particularly alarmed at the possibility that Washington might sell Taiwan its Aegis radar system.

Residents of Beijing were indignant over the mid-air collision, seeing it as another example of US bullying.

"This incident shows the United States does not respect China," said 28-year-old Chang Jianguo. "I am angry about it."

China-US relations have only recently been fully restored after a US plane on a NATO mission bombed the Chinese embassy in Belgrade in May 1999.

The bombing sparked furious protests by stone-throwing crowds outside the US embassy in Beijing.

Ties between Beijing and Washington have been strained in recent weeks by China's detention of US-based Chinese academic Gao Zhan.

- REUTERS

Herald Online feature: Spy plane standoff

Map

China Daily

China's Ministry of Foreign Affairs

Official site of Chinese Government

Jane's Military Aerospace: EP3

US Pacific Command


China People's Daily