The US has no intention of paying a US$1 million bill China has submitted for the three months a navy reconnaissance plane spent on Chinese soil, a State Department official said.
The plane made an emergency landing on the Chinese island of Hainan on April 1 after colliding with a Chinese military aircraft. It was disassembled and returned to the US this week.
A State Department official, asking not to be identified, said Friday the expenses were exaggerated.
This came a day after Rear Admiral Craig Quigley, a Pentagon spokesman, said the administration was prepared to reimburse China for reasonable costs.
The costs were related mostly to support provided by the Chinese government and local businesses while a Lockheed Martin recovery crew was on Hainan.
The disassembled plane was transported to Dobbins Air Reserve Base in Georgia on Thursday.
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A senior State Department official said the figure was based on a fax sent by Chinese officials to the US Embassy in Beijing. The fax was several pages long and contained an itemized list of the charges, he said.
The downing of the plane initially caused acrimony between the two countries but both have seemed eager in recent days for a more productive relationship.
Deputy Secretary of State Richard Armitage noted Friday that China has been more accommodating lately, partly because it is interested in successful trips to China by Secretary of State Colin Powell later this month and by President George W. Bush in October.
As an example of Chinese cooperation, Armitage noted that Beijing has moved closer to the administration's position on a new system of "smart sanctions" for Iraq that would allow greater flows of civilian goods while tightening up military-related imports and smuggling.
RSS