The White House yesterday refused to apologize to the Chinese government for an incident in which a US spy plane collided with a Chinese fighter jet.
"The United States government doesn't understand the reason for an apology," White House spokesman Ari Fleischer told reporters. "Our airplane was operating in international airspace and [the crew] did nothing wrong."
Fleischer said US Ambassador Joseph Prueher was summoned to a meeting earlier yesterday with the Chinese foreign minister, Tang Jiaxuan (唐家璇), in Beijing. Tang demanded an apology for the incident and Prueher refused, Fleischer said.
The ambassador repeated President George W. Bush's demand of 24 hours earlier for the return of the US plane, which made an emergency landing after the collision Sunday, and its 24 crew members.
China maintains the crew is being held in "protective custody" and that the US should apologize for the incident that landed them there.
US diplomatic representatives met Tuesday with the crew members on Hainan and reported them to be in good health. Chinese officials refused to allow the American officials to meet alone with the crew members and have not allowed them to contact their families in the US.
US officials said yesterday the crew indicated they managed to destroy at least some of the highly sensitive electronic intelligence-gathering equipment and data on board the plane before it landed. It was unclear how much of an intelligence bonanza the Chinese might enjoy if they should keep the plane.
Shortly after the incident, US officials said they believed one of the EP-3's four engines was damaged in the collision.
On Tuesday they said the damage was more extensive, including damage to the nose section, which contains radar equipment; damage to two of the four propellers; and a damaged wing flap.
One official said the plane tumbled 2,400m after the collision and had trouble getting its wing flaps down.
Bush said he wanted to give China time to resolve the matter and to prevent the stalemate from escalating into a full-fledged crisis. But, the president said, such a grace period was quickly running out.
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