China and the US ended a first day of talks yesterday on the spy plane incident which sparked an 11-day diplomatic standoff and will meet again today, the official Xinhua news agency reported.
US officials declined immediate comment on talks, which both countries expect to set the tone of a relationship already fraught with deep disagreements on issues ranging from US arms sales to Taiwan to human rights.
But state television quoted Lu Shumin (
That suggested no weakening of the Chinese position. Washington blames F-8 pilot Wang Wei (
Yesterday's talks did not begin until 3pm and lasted only three hours.
"I have no indication that they're all finished," a US embassy spokesman said, although he said no time had been set for a second meeting.
Xinhua said the two sides would meet again today.
Two Chinese protesters staged a small demonstration outside the Foreign Ministry, where the talks were held, and chanted anti-US slogans.
One waved a model of the Chinese F-8 fighter that crashed into the South China Sea after colliding with an American EP-3 surveillance plane which had to make an emergency landing on Hainan Island.
Plainclothes police tore a paper sign denouncing "superpower arrogance" from the other protester, but let him walk away.
Neither side appeared ready to give ground on the collision, after which the 24 crew members of the US plane were detained for 11 days until Washington said it was "very sorry" for the Chinese pilot's death and the unauthorized emergency landing.
"We are going to demand that the US side gives us an explanation and also that they halt the surveillance flights over Chinese coasts, so that by doing so they stop threatening China's national security," Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Zhu Bangzao (
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