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No breakthroughs in U.S.-China spy plane talks
BEIJING, China (CNN) -- Talks between U.S. and Chinese diplomats about the collision of a U.S. surveillance plane and a Chinese fighter jet ended Thursday with neither side giving ground to dueling accusations that the other was at fault. With no new talks scheduled, the $100 million U.S. Navy EP-3 involved in the crash remained in Chinese hands. The talks "were businesslike," a Bush administration official told CNN. "We completed all the agenda items."
Those agenda items included an American plan to retrieve the badly damaged U.S. plane and China's demand that the United States stop reconnaissance flights near the Chinese coast. But the talks ended with little progress on those issues, and a U.S. official in Beijing told CNN there would be no resolution until the two sides could agree on what caused the April 1 accident. U.S. officials say the Chinese pilot flew too close to the Navy plane, clipping a propeller with its tail. As evidence, the Americans released video of Chinese jets -- including the plane that Wang Wei, the pilot involved in this month's crash, was known to have flown -- apparently cruising within a few feet of the slow-moving reconnaissance plane. But the Chinese fought back with videotapes of their own purportedly showing American fighter pilots flying near Chinese planes -- including some images showing U.S. pilots taking pictures of Chinese pilots taking pictures of them. Animation contradicts U.S. versionThe collision -- over international waters in the South China Sea -- forced the Chinese jet into the sea and sent the crippled American plane to an emergency landing at the nearest landing strip -- China's Langshui military base on Hainan Island. Wang is missing and presumed dead. China held the 24 U.S. crew members for 11 days while diplomats forged an agreement for their release. The deal included an American apology for the loss of the Chinese pilot and for landing the damaged plane without "verbal permission" from Chinese officials. The meetings to discuss the incident, which began on Wednesday, were also part of that agreement. The first day of talks broke up after just two hours with U.S. officials saying there was no point continuing unless China agreed to discuss the return of the plane. But after a visit by U.S. Ambassador to China Joseph Prueher to the Chinese Foreign Ministry, the talks were on again Thursday, when the Chinese released an animated graphic depicting their version of the incident. China says that the U.S. plane took a sharp turn and a dive, striking the Chinese F-8 as the fighter tried to warn the larger, slower EP-3 away from China's coast. That animation contradicts the story told by the crew of the Navy plane, however. Lt. Shane Osborn, who coaxed the limping plane to a safe landing in China, and his crew said that Chinese pilots regularly fly very close during intercept missions and that on April 1, Wang cut the maneuver too close. The EP-3, Osborn said, was on autopilot and flying "straight and level" at the time of the accident. Talks will continueAlthough they reached no agreement on the cause of the accident, the return of the EP-3 or the Chinese demand for an end to the surveillance missions, the diplomats did agree to keep talking, U.S. officials said. "They agreed to refer discussion of the 'rules of the road' -- how to prevent future accidents in the air -- to the Military Maritime consultative mechanism, and we are looking for a date for that," a Bush official told CNN. The Military Maritime Commission, set up during the Clinton administration to resolve problems between the United States and China over issues at sea, had been scheduled to meet on Sunday, but cited lack of preparation time in delaying the meeting indefinitely. The Chinese said they would refer the U.S. plan to recover the EP-3 to their superiors, the official said. Meanwhile, the official said, the administration awaits China's response before deciding on the next course of action. The delegation holding the last two days of meetings was to leave Beijing on Friday, but White House officials said that talks would continue through "diplomatic channels" until a new meeting is set. CNN Beijing Bureau Chief Rebecca MacKinnon and White House Correspondent Kelly Wallace contributed to this report. RELATED STORIES:
U.S., China resume talks RELATED SITES:
U.S. Navy factfile: The EP-3 |
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