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Spy plane flyback an ‘affront to dignity'
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CHINA has explained its refusal to allow the US spy plane stranded in Hainan Island to fly home, saying public sentiment would be outraged if the aircraft flew again over Chinese territory.
Vice Foreign Minister Li Zhaoxing said on Wednesday, “If we allow such a military plane which had a mission of spying on China to be flown back from a Chinese military airfield, that would further hurt the dignity and sentiments of the Chinese people."
Beijing hopes the US side will take a “pragmatic and reasonable attitude" and negotiate the return of the damaged spy plane at the centre of the April 1 collision with a Chinese jet fighter, “maybe by boat, for example", he said in an interview.
China announced on Tuesday its refusal to allow the US$80-million EP-3 to return by air and reiterated this stance yesterday.
If unable to fly the plane out, the United States would likely have to either remove its wings and tail sections and pack it into a gigantic C-5 Galaxy cargo plane or load it onto a large seagoing barge, said Larry Wortzel, director of the Asian Studies Centre at The Heritage Foundation and a former military attaché to China.(SD-Agencies)
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