US President George W. Bush could be forgiven for thinking he woke up on April 1 to a nasty Fool's Day prank. Only this was no joke.
In what was considered to be the first real test of his administration, a collision between a US EP-3 surveillance plane and a Chinese F-8 jet off the island of Hainan threatened to spark a new Cold War.
The collision forced the 24-member crew aboard the US plane to make an emergency landing on Hainan, while the F-8 crashed into the South China Sea, killing pilot Wang Wei (
Immediately following the crash, US and Chinese officials were unable to agree on even the most basic of details. Washington maintained that the EP-3 was flying over international waters, while Beijing accused the American plane of spying in Chinese airspace; US officials said their plane was forced down, while the Chinese side said the propeller-driven EP-3 veered into the F-8 jet.
Tensions rose as the US lobbied for the immediate release of the EP-3's crew under China's "protective custody."
Negotiations appeared to be at a stalemate days into the incident with China seeking an apology for violations of its airspace and the unauthorized landing of the EP-3 and the US saying it had nothing to apologize for.
Finally, 11 days after the incident began, the language of diplomacy was massaged such that China could claim an apology.
The US, in a letter to Beijing, described itself as "very sorry" for the loss of life and the violation of Chinese airspace, thus freeing the crew.
The crew's return didn't resolve all differences, however -- the EP-3 was still stranded on Hainan. Only after another month and a half of negotiations did China agree to the allow plane off Hainan, and it would have to go in pieces.
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