Diplomats Finally Meet with Plane Crew

Army Brig. Gen. Neal Sealock, the U.S. Embassy defense attache, was allowed to meet late Tuesday with the 24 crew members. It was their first contact with an American official since their EP-3 surveillance plane landed on the tropical Chinese island of Hainan after a collision with a Chinese fighter jet.

"They are in good health," Sealock said of the American servicemen and women. He said U.S. officials were working for their release, but gave no indication that would happen immediately. "Our goal is to get them home as soon as possible," Sealock said.

U.S. Secretary of State Colin Powell called Tuesday for the "rapid" return of the crew and the sophisticated surveillance plane as he welcomed the meeting with the crew. President Bush had complained about Chinese delays in allowing the meeting.

"I`m encouraged by the fact that the meeting is taking place. It shouldn`t have taken this long to happen," Powell said in Key West, Fla. "But, now that it has happened, I hope this starts us on a road to a full and complete resolution of this matter."

Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Zhu Bangzao said the crew`s fate would be decided in light of a Chinese investigation. Asked at a Beijing news conference when the crew would be released, Zhu replied: "I don`t know."

China demanded the United States apologize for the collision, which it blamed on the American plane. The pilot of the Chinese fighter parachuted out and remains missing.

Zhu refused to say whether Chinese officials had boarded the plane, which is packed with hi-tech surveillance equipment. But he dismissed U.S. claims that the plane is sovereign American territory and therefore cannot be boarded.

"If this plane is sovereign American territory, how did it land in China?" Foreign Ministry spokesman Zhu said. "There`s no question of immunity at all. Therefore China has all rights to handle this case."

Zhu said China has a right to conduct "an investigation" into the collision.

Zhu said Washington should "admit its mistakes" and "make an explanation to the Chinese government and people on this incident instead of raising this or that demand or try to shirk its responsibilities."

Chinese President Jiang Zemin, who expressed "great concern" for the Chinese pilot, was quoted by Zhu as saying, "The responsibility fully lies with the American side. We have full evidence for that." Jiang called for an end to U.S. surveillance flights off China`s coast "so as to prevent similar accidents from happening again," Zhu said.

U.S. military officials say the Chinese undoubtedly boarded the plane and examined its sophisticated equipment. U.S. Ambassador Joseph Prueher, interviewed on ABC`s "Good Morning America," said: "We have every reason to think the Chinese have been all over the airplane."

The collision occurred about 60 miles southeast of Hainan, a popular tourist destination 400 miles west of Hong Kong. The U.S. military says the EP-3 was on a routine surveillance mission in international air space. After its left wing and left-most of its four engines were damaged, the pilot put out a distress call and landed at the nearest air field on Hainan.

U.S. officials have complained that China is slow in responding to diplomatic contacts. It`s not unusual for China`s secretive bureaucratic system to take a long time to make decisions, especially where the military or national security concerns are involved.

U.S. officials say China did not respond to an offer to help in the search for the missing Chinese pilot.

A sailor at a facility adjacent to the Lingshui base said Monday the plane was standing empty on the runway and the crew had been taken to a military guesthouse.

China says the American pilot caused the crash by suddenly veering into the Chinese jet, one of two sent up to follow the plane into Chinese airspace. U.S. military authorities say it was more likely that the faster, lighter Chinese plane brushed against the lumbering propeller-driven EP-3E, which is about the size of a 150-seater commercial jetliner.

In a second day of protests in Hong Kong, about 20 people marched on the U.S. consulate, chanting for the United States to "stop spying in China." About 100 people demonstrated there on Monday.

Copyright 2001 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.

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Author: 6 ABC - Action News (AP)