The american plane made an emergency
landing in china and the united states
said it was seeking the immediate return
of the 24 crew members. All said to be in
good condition and of the sophisticated
aircraft and all its intelligence
equipment.
The mid-air crash occurred about 50
miles southeast of china's hainan island
in what american officials described as
international waters. The EP-3E aries ii aircraft which had
taken off from an american air base in Okinawa, Japan issued a mayday call but
managed to make an emergency landing on
the island.
The chinese plane crashed into the
waters below. China's foreign ministry
spokesman said a search was underway for
the pilot and chinese state television
broadcast an angry statement on sunday
night saying that the u.s side has total
responsibility for this event.
But commander-in-chief of the united
states pacific command said chinese
planes had become increasingly
aggressive in tailing american military
aircraft in recent months. Even prompting
the united states to register a protest. It's not a normal practice to play
bumper cars in the air, he said.
In Washington president advisors finding
themselves dealing for the first time
with a sensitive military incident with
the chinese, went to some lengths to
avoid ascribing blame. And instead they immediately focused
their attention on an airport in the
city of Lingshui on Hainan, where the
damaged plane was sitting on the tarmac.
Whether the crew members were still on
board was unclear. The question now is do
we have access to the crew, when do we
get the crew back and how do we get the
aircraft back, said one administration
official.
This is going to be a test of everyone's
ability to stay cool and work things out. The White House said diplomats from the
american embassy in Beijing and other
american officials based in china, were
traveling to Hainan and would seek to
escort the crew members out of the
country and make sure the chinese did
not inspect or remove the equipment
aboard the plane.
It was not clear if the americans erased
any data they had collected or sought to
disable any of their equipment. The incident comes at a particularly
sensitive moment of transition in
washington's relations with Beijing.
Within weeks u.s president is to make a
decision on whether to sell
sophisticated arms and radar equipment
to taiwan and how the two countries
handle this incident may color the
internal debate within the
administration over what kind of
technology to provide to the taiwanese.
Chinese officials meanwhile are likely
to use the incident to take their
measure of the U.S administration. They are already highly sensitive to
what they believe is a tougher posture
toward china. One that views china as a military
competitor first in a trade partner
second.
Tags
Military