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China firm on apology demand
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CHINA still demands an official apology from the United States for the crash of a Chinese fighter following a collision with a US spy plane on Sunday morning, the Foreign Ministry said yesterday afternoon.
When asked to comment on US Secretary of State Collin Powell's message of regret to Chinese Vice-Premier Qian Qichen over the missing Chinese pilot, Foreign Ministry Spokesman Sun Yuxi noted that the regret is a step in the right direction by the US towards solving this issue.
The United States is clear about China's solemn stance and demand concerning this issue and it must bear all responsibilities for the incident, Sun added.
On Wednesday, before leaving Beijing on a trip to Latin America, President Jiang Zemin restated that the US side should apologize to the Chinese people for the collision caused by the US spy plane "making dangerous moves and bumping into the Chinese jet".
Foreign Minister Tang Jiaxuan on Wednesday summoned US Ambassador to China Joseph Prueher, saying that the United States should bear full responsibility for the incident and apologize to China.
US regrets
Powell publicly expressed regret over Sunday's incident before reinforcing his remarks in a letter to Qian.
Powell earlier told reporters that the United States regretted that "the Chinese plane did not get down safely and we regret the loss of the life of that Chinese pilot".
But US officials still insisted they would not offer an apology.
White House spokesman Ari Fleischer claimed the US spy plane was operating in international airspace and the United States did nothing wrong.
Wife slams US
Ruan Guoqin, the wife of the missing pilot Wang Wei, has running nose ever since his husband disappeared after his fighter crashed.
She said that now she could do nothing but hope for the best. But, she knows the chance fades as each second ticks away.
Ruan told reporters that since Sunday, the only thing she and their son could do is keeping their fingers crossed for their man.
She expressed her strong indignation over the act of a US surveillance plane causing the crash of a Chinese fighter jet and the missing of her husband.
Infuriated by US attitude towards the incident, she said: "The life of Chinese people is as precious as the American's. The US Government only cares about their pilots but did not say a word about my husband. To me, my husband's life and safety are the most precious."
"The America should take all responsibility for this matter and for my husband's missing," she added.
Search continues
Commander of the Navy Shi Yunsheng said yesterday that the Navy will continue to do their best to search for the missing pilot.
Shi said that until 4pm yesterday, the Chinese Navy had conducted a search and rescue operation for 102 hours, using the most advanced equipment.
The scope of the search is now almost twice that at the beginning, he added. The strong gales and turbulent waves on the sea have made it difficult for the rescue operation.
'No quick solution'
Wen Wei Po, a Hong Kong newspaper, yesterday cited authoritative sources in Beijing as saying the case "would not be resolved quickly" and "China would not quickly return the US surveillance aircraft and its 24 crew."(SD-Xinhua)
World reaction
China has the right to demand an official apology from the United States for a mid-air collision incident, Syria's official Al-Thwara daily said yesterday, accusing the US of seeking to "impose its hegemony on the whole world".
The incident has raised some questions, such as what a spy aircraft was doing over an area thousands of kilometres away from the US territories, the newspaper said in a commentary.
The El Mundo, a Spanish newspaper, on Wednesday scorned US arrogance over the collision incident.
The newspaper asked in an editorial: Will Washington tolerate a Chinese spy plane to fly over the seas 80km off New York or Los Angeles?
It said that, while demanding the return of the US plane, US President George W Bush failed to admit the fact that the US spied on Chinese military and civilian facilities.
Al-Ittihad, an official newspaper of the United Arab Emirates, on Tuesday expressed "great shock" at the fact that Washington offered no prompt apology to China.
The paper stressed that China is fully justified in exercising its sovereignty to intercept the intruding aircraft and demanding that the United States bear the full responsibility of the incident, which Washington has tried to brush away as "incidental."
Ming Pao, another Hong Kong-based newspaper, noted in its editorial that the United States in the past year has continuously spied close to China's airspace, which is a undoubtedly a provocation to China.
The Time magazine of the United States disclosed that its survey found almost 80 per cent Americans regard their government should be mainly blamed for the collision.(SD-Xinhua)
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