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Collision row unsolved: Zhu
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Crew return home after US says 'very sorry'
PREMIER Zhu Rongji said yesterday that the release of 24 US crew did not mean the end of the case and China reserves the right to affix the responsibility with the US side for the plane collision that plunged a Chinese jet and a pilot into the South China sea on April 1.
At a meeting with visiting President of the 55th UN General Assembly Harri Holkeri, Zhu reiterated China's stance over the incident, saying the US reconnaissance plane intruded into China's airspace and caused the collision. All responsibilities lie in the United States, he added.
Standoff ends
In a move that ended the 12-day standoff and defused a would-be crisis, the Chinese Government on Wednesday afternoon decided to allow the US crew to return home out of humanitarian considerations, after receiving a letter from the United States saying it was “very sorry" for the loss of the Chinese jet and pilot.
The letter, addressed to Chinese Foreign Minister Tang Jiaxuan by US Ambassador to China Joseph Prueher, said “both President Bush and Secretary of State Powell have expressed their sincere regret over your missing pilot and aircraft. Please convey to the Chinese people and to the family of pilot Wang Wei that we are very sorry for their loss."
The US letter also said the US Government is “very sorry the entering of China's airspace and the landing did not have verbal clearance".
Demands outstanding
In upholding China's account of the incident that the US spy plane rammed into and destroyed the Chinese jet, Tang told Prueher said that the US side must take full responsibility for the incident and provide convincing explanations to the Chinese people.
Tang also demanded the United States to stop its reconnaissance activities above the Chinese coast and take actions to prevent the recurrence of such incidents.
According to the Foreign Ministry, both countries will hold talks on April 18 to discuss the cause of the incident and ways for the US side to stop reconnaissance missions and other related issues.
Plane probed
It is also believed that next week's discussions will also cover the fate of the EP-3 spy plane, which is too badly damaged to fly with its nose cone ripped off and propeller destroyed.
Foreign Ministry Spokeswoman Zhang Qiyue said at a regular briefing yesterday that China has the right to perform “comprehensive" investigations on the spy plane stranded on Hainan Island.
“The Chinese side will handle this aircraft in accordance with the results of the investigations," she added.
Pilot likely dead
In a tacit admission that the missing Chinese pilot Wang Wei may have died after he parachuted from the crashed jet, Chinese newspapers yesterday quoted a Beijing-based aeronautic expert as saying on Wednesday that there was little chance that Wang was still alive, 12 days after the tragedy struck.
Liu Feng, an expert with an institute of Chinese air force, guessed that Wang Wei, having been injured, may have failed to inflate the life raft and get rid of the parachutes, and as a result the pilot and the equipment have sunken into the sea.
Chinese military and civilian rescuers have searched around the site of the incident in the South China Sea without finding any trace of the pilot and his equipment.
Crew return home
The 24 US crew arrived at Andersen Air Force Base, Guam, yesterday noon after staying in China for 12 days.
A chartered Boeing 737 carrying the 24 US servicemen and women touched down at the air force base in the US Pacific territory just minutes ahead of 12am (Beijing Time) after a four-and-a-half hour flight from Haikou, capital city of Hainan Province.
The crew was scheduled to remain on the ground for around two hours before flying on to Hickam Air Base in Honolulu, Hawaii.
Earlier yesterday, the crew were rushed to the airport from a military guest house in Haikou in two minibuses flanked by a convoy of security vehicles with flashing lights.(SD-Xinhua)
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