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Crash pilot a martyr
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WANG WEI, the Chinese pilot whose F-8 jet collided with a US spy plane, was officially declared a martyr on Saturday night as the authorities accepted there was no chance of finding him alive.
According to a decision made by the Navy Committee of the Communist Party of China, Wang, an officer in the Navy Air Force, was on duty tracing and monitoring the US military surveillance plane on the morning of April 1.
Wang parachuted out after his fighter jet was rammed and destroyed by the US plane, the decision said.
“Wang died a glorious death," it said, adding that in accordance with the regulations on citing martyrs, the Navy Party Committee approved Wang to be a martyr.
Military and civilian rescuers on Saturday evening abandoned the search for Wang nearly two weeks after the incident and “the pilot was assumed dead".
“Experts believe that there is no possibility of Wang Wei returning alive with all conditions taken into consideration," it added.
Despite a relentless search operation which has seen hundreds of military aircraft, naval and fishing vessels mobilized to scour the waters off South China where Wang is believed to have bailed out on April 1, no trace of the pilot or his plane have been found.
Top Navy officers on Saturday visited Wang's parents and his son who arrived in Beijing to visit the emotionally distressed Ruan Guoqin, Wang's wife, in hospital.
In another development, China voiced strong resentment on Saturday at the comments of some senior US officials on the collision.
Foreign Ministry Spokeswoman Zhang Qiyue said in a statement that the US side, disregarding the facts, continued to “confuse right and wrong and even falsely accuse the Chinese side" in irresponsible comments made successively by high-ranking members of the US administration in the last few days, in an attempt to shirk its responsibility.
“We have enough evidence to prove that it was the US plane that violated flight rules by suddenly veering in a wide angle at the Chinese plane in normal flight, rammed into and damaged it, resulting in the loss of the Chinese pilot," Zhang said.
The spokeswoman said that the US side should realize that China has allowed the 24 persons aboard the US spy plane to leave its territory “out of humanitarian considerations".
Following the homecoming of its 24 crew, the US Government has pinned blame on the Chinese pilot for causing the mid-air collision.(SD-Xinhua)
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