The standoff with China over a downed reconnaissance plane showed signs of easing yesterday. China's ambassador called at the State Department and the White House said "we have reached a diplomatic point where matters are heavily engaged."
A senior US official told reporters the situation had improved over the last few days. Secretary of State Colin Powell, in a letter to Beijing, reiterated US concern and regret for the death of a Chinese pilot whose fighter collided with the US craft over the South China Sea, the official said.
The official, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said the hope was that the US would soon have access to the plane China is holding, along with its 24-member crew.
China's new ambassador to Washington, Yang Jiechi, held his second meeting in two days with Deputy Secretary of State Richard Armitage in an effort to resolve the dispute.
There was no confirmation the Chinese who boarded the US plane on Hainan Island had stripped it of intelligence-gathering gear that the crew had not destroyed. But the senior US official said it was assumed the sophisticated equipment had been removed.
At the White House, spokesman Ari Fleischer said "the governments are heavily engaged and we will continue to monitor events."
Fleischer declined to provide specifics, saying negotiations were at a sensitive stage.
President George W. Bush spoke twice Wednesday night with Powell and with his national security adviser Condoleezza Rice.
Meanwhile, a second senior US official said he was encouraged by the level and quality of the diplomatic contacts between the two countries overnight.
This appraisal ran counter to the frustration that US officials had expressed in the days following Sunday's collision.
RSS