| Subtle signs of encouragement China starts reporting on plane negotiations 04/10/2001 By Robin Wright and Henry Chu / Los Angeles Times WASHINGTON – The Bush administration said Monday it saw encouraging signs of movement in the spy plane standoff, citing improved conditions for the 24 U.S. crew members and acknowledgment by China's state-controlled media that negotiations for their release are under way.
The tentative signals followed a fourth meeting between U.S. diplomats and members of the detained crew on southern Hainan island, where the crippled U.S. surveillance plane landed after a collision with a Chinese fighter jet April 1.
"We hope we are moving a little closer toward a solution," U.S. Ambassador Joseph Prueher said in Beijing.
In Washington, a senior U.S. official who spoke on condition of anonymity added: "I have a feeling we're in the endgame, but I'm not sure how long it will last. With the Chinese, the endgame can last a long time."
Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Zhu Bangzao said Monday that U.S. statements so far "are still unacceptable to the Chinese people."
"We are highly unsatisfied," he said in Buenos Aires, Argentina, where he was accompanying President Jiang Zemin. "We ask the United States to take responsibility for this incident in a clear and active way by apologizing to the Chinese people. We think this is the key to solving the problem."
Bush administration officials said they are using a three-pronged approach to try to win release of the 21 men and three women, who will mark their 10th day in captivity Tuesday.
The three steps involve an expression of regret over the incident and sorrow for the loss of the Chinese pilot, an exchange of explanations for the cause of the midair collision, and arrangements for talks on issues of mutual concern, mediated by a maritime commission formed in 1998.
Mr. Prueher, who met twice with Chinese Foreign Ministry officials on Monday, is involved in "many intense conversations," White House spokesman Ari Fleischer said. "They are working on language, they are working on wording."
Bush's letter
President Bush's letter to the wife of the missing Chinese pilot, drafted over the weekend, was to be delivered overnight Monday, U.S. officials said. The White House characterized it as a personal communication unrelated to the diplomatic talks, although it will be delivered to the Beijing government to give to the pilot's wife.
Mr. Bush warned of the dangers ahead for China if the crew is not released soon.
"All of us around this table understand diplomacy takes time. But there is a point, the longer it goes, there's a point at which our relations with China could become damaged," Mr. Bush said during a morning Cabinet meeting.
Mr. Bush said he had spoken with Brig. Gen. Neal Sealock, the U.S. military attaché in China, after Gen. Sealock's 40-minute meeting with the crew of the U.S. EP-3 surveillance plane.
"His report is that their spirits are very high, that they're doing well. And that's good news," Mr. Bush said.
The administration was also encouraged that Monday's meeting did not involve extensive advance negotiations and red tape. Gen. Sealock was allowed to meet with all 24 crew members, in contrast with the visit on Saturday, when only eight crew members were allowed to participate.
Gen. Sealock said housing conditions for the crew were comfortable and clean. "That includes things like air conditioning. They're very clean; it is a hotel environment," he said. "They've been able to clean their uniforms and do all those sorts of things. They are being well taken care of."
In Washington, U.S. officials said that information from the U.S. crew members indicated that the Americans were not at fault in the collision. U.S. crew members said that Chinese pilot Wang Wei passed three times below the lumbering EP-3E reconnaissance craft – once within 2 or 3 feet – before striking the U.S. plane's left wing with the fighter's tail and plunging into the sea, said Pentagon officials who spoke on condition of anonymity.
"That time he misjudged his flight path," one official said.
The Chinese jet "broke in two pieces," and the resulting damage to the EP-3's propellers and nose cone caused it to drop 5,000 feet in an "uncontrolled" loss of altitude, one official said.
Cause of accident
Chinese officials have said that the U.S. plane caused the accident by veering suddenly into the Chinese fighter, U.S. officials said.
One Pentagon official said the Americans "were flying a straight and level course."
In another sign of an easing of tensions, China's state-run media reported for the first time Monday on the diplomatic activity to bring the standoff to an end. Monday evening's national newscast acknowledged that multiple rounds of talks had taken place between Mr. Prueher and Chinese officials.
Meanwhile, U.S. officials expressed concern about the reported detention of a third Chinese intellectual with U.S. connections on suspicion of divulging state secrets. Tan Guangguang, who holds permanent U.S. residency, was picked up in December, the Hong Kong-based Information Center for Human Rights and Democracy said Monday.
The Baltimore Sun contributed to this report.
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