A US team arrived in China yesterday for talks which promise to be testy at best as each side blames the other for the plane collision which set off an 11-day diplomatic stand-off.
Neither side has shown signs of backing down on their positions ahead of today's talks, which Washington says could set the tone for relations between Beijing and the new US administration of President George W. Bush.
"We have made quite clear that we think a productive meeting can set the basis for a further relationship," US State Department spokesman Richard Boucher said in Washington. "On the other hand, a polemical meeting would give us some indication of how they might or might not intend to proceed with the relationship."
At stake is the possible impact on several crucial issues, including US arms sales to Taiwan, China's vital trade privileges with the US and even Beijing's bid for the 2008 Olympic Games.
At the same time, China is fighting a diplomatic battle to prevent a US resolution criticizing its human rights record from coming to a vote at a UN commission in Geneva.
The talks will focus on the cause of the April 1 collision between a US spy plane and a Chinese fighter jet and China's demands that the US end surveillance flights around the Chinese coast and take steps to prevent a repeat of the incident, Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Zhang Qiyue (章啟月) said. "The Chinese side has every right to carry out a full investigation," she said.
The US plane made an emergency landing on the southern island of Hainan after colliding with the Chinese jet, which crashed into the sea. The 24-member US crew were held for 11 days as a diplomatic standoff ensued. China has kept hold of the US plane.
"The Chinese side will handle the aircraft in accordance with the outcome of the investigation," Zhang said without hinting at how long the investigation would take.
The US delegation leader, Acting Undersecretary of Defense for Policy Pete Virga, said the tone of the talks would be "frank," a strong word in the diplomatic context.
The Chinese negotiating team would include military officials and diplomats, led by Lu Shuming, director general of the Foreign Ministry's North America department, Zhang said.
Washington on Monday insisted again that surveillance flights would not be halted.
China continues to assert that such flights violate international law by threatening Chinese national security.
Beijing has also reacted angrily to US statements blaming Chinese pilot Wang Wei for the incident. President Jiang Zemin (江澤民) declared Wang, who was killed in the collision, "Protector of the Sea and Sky" and told the Chinese military to emulate his example.
The declaration on Wang made it highly unlikely Beijing would back away from its insistence that Washington accept blame.
The signals from Washington were equally hard-line, with the White House suggesting the US team would pull no punches in telling their Chinese counterparts that Wang was responsible.
"The agenda as far as the United States is concerned is to provide a clear and graphic explanation of the US view of the cause of the accident, and discuss ways of avoiding similar accidents," White House spokesman Ari Fleischer said.
The US team would "ask tough questions" about the manner in which Chinese fighters "dangerously intercepted" the US flight and ask for the return of the spy plane, he said.
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