Calling China's demands for US$1 million to cover its costs stemming from the downing of a US aircraft the height of arrogance, the House of Representatives voted overwhelmingly on Wednesday to block such a payment.
By a vote of 424 to six, members adopted an amendment introduced by Republican House Majority Whip Tom DeLay of Texas, who called China's request a "preposterous suggestion."
The measure is attached to an appropriations bill funding the Departments of Commerce, Justice, State and several associated agencies.
It says "none of the funds appropriated in this Act may be used to pay any request or claim by the Government of the People's Republic of China" for reimbursement of any costs associated with the landing or departure on China's Hainan Island of the navy's EP-3 surveillance aircraft.
The aircraft had been stuck on the tarmac at Lingshui Air Base since April 1, when it landed there following a mid-air collision with a Chinese fighter jet, which crashed into the sea.
The 24-member crew of the US plane was held by the Chinese military for 11 days and released only after the US said it was "very sorry" for the loss of the Chinese pilot and for landing without permission.
China repeatedly refused US requests to repair the damaged plane and fly it off Hainan.
As a compromise deal reached last May, it agreed to allow the aircraft to be disassembled and transported aboard a chartered Russian cargo plane.
The EP-3 was brought to a Lockheed Martin plant in Marietta, Georgia, earlier this month, but Beijing served Washington with a US$1 million bill, citing the need to cover its expenses.
The demand, however, has rubbed many on Capitol Hill the wrong way.
"The brazen audacity of some demands can almost take on a kind of comic grandeur," said DeLay.
"The idea that American taxpayers should start rewarding communist piracy is as contemptible as it is unlikely to happen," he said. "This Congress will never allow a single dollar to be used to compensate the perpetrators of international aggression."
The vote puts the administration of President George W. Bush in an awkward position because, while calling the Chinese demand excessive, top officials have declared themselves open to the idea of making some payments to China.
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