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CNN Wolf Blitzer Reports

The U.S./China Agreement

Aired April 11, 2001 - 20:00   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
WOLF BLITZER, HOST: Tonight, a special edition of WOLF BLITZER REPORTS.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

GEORGE W. BUSH, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: I'm pleased to be able to tell the American people that plans are under way to bring home our 24 American service men and women.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BLITZER: A standoff which began with a collision 11 days ago ends with a flurry of phone calls and meetings, and a final, carefully worded expression of U.S. regret. We'll go live to Hainan Island, Beijing, the White House, and to Honolulu, where the crew will head for debriefing.

We'll also hear from the Pentagon about the fate of the damaged plane and the future of U.S. reconnaissance flights. And I'll discuss the future of U.S.-Chinese relations with George Shultz, secretary of state during the Reagan years.

Good evening. Welcome to our special report: "The U.S./China Agreement." I'm Wolf Blitzer reporting tonight from Washington.

It took 11 days, but the Bush administration and the Chinese government have now ended their standoff. The 24 U.S. crew members are on their way home. The plane that is carrying them took off form Hainan Island just about 30 minutes ago. The damaged EP-3 surveillance plane remains in China for now, and the future of U.S. reconnaissance flights will be reviewed by the two sides. All that, part of a carefully drafted U.S.-China agreement.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

BUSH: The American people, their families and I are proud of our crew and we look forward to welcoming them home.

BLITZER (voice-over): Family members were overjoyed at the news that a chartered commercial plane was on its way to bring the 24 home.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I was so excited, so happy. I ran out and gave everybody hugs and kisses. TILDA YOUNG, MOTHER OF CREW MEMBER: I was overwhelmed. Happy! It was just wonderful. That's the news that we've been waiting for days and days and days.

BLITZER: President Bush met the family of one crew member, Petty Officer Third Class Steven Blocher of North Carolina.

For 11 days, the two sides worked to find just the right words to end the standoff. Those words came in a letter from U.S. Ambassador Joseph Prueher to the Chinese foreign minister.

"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."

"We are very sorry the entering of China's airspace and the landing did not have verbal clearance, but very pleased the crew landed safely. We appreciate China's efforts to see to the well-being of our crew."

BUSH: This has been a difficult situation for both our countries.

BLITZER: For China, the matter is far from closed.

CHEN CHI, HAINAN PROVINCIAL GOVERNMENT: Stop sending aircraft to the vicinity of the Chinese coast for reconnaissance activities and take effective measures to avoid the recurrence of similar incidents.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

BLITZER: The 24 American crew members have now left Hainan Island. Their damaged plane will remain behind.

CNN's Lisa Rose Weaver is there. She joins us now on the telephone.

Lisa, tell us specifically what happened in the last few minutes when the local police came and shut down the videophone that we were showing pictures around the world on.

LISA ROSE WEAVER, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, they detained us shortly afterwards. We are in detention at the moment. Me and one of my CNN colleagues are in a car. There's a policeman in the car with us directing the driver to take us to the public security bureau of the airport.

We're now in the -- we're about to turn into Hainan Airport, and they will ask, in all likelihood, ask us what we were doing there. And it -- this is just -- it sounds somewhat dramatic. The reality is it's a routine really of reporting in China. It's just not free in that sense.

International journalists or really any journalists are not allowed to operate freely. Collecting information is a suspect act as far as the authorities are concerned.

So it remains to be seen exactly what happens, but we are all being taken in to speak with public security officers at the airport -- Wolf.

BLITZER: Yet, Lisa, they allowed you to show pictures of the plane taking off about half an hour ago. There was no effort to disrupt that -- those broadcasts on the video, videophone. We're seeing a picture of that right now.

Do you think they were deliberately waiting until after the plane took off to shut you down?

WEAVER: That would be really hard to say. I doubt that any -- any of this was really that planned. We -- when we got to the airport, it was dark and we were in a fairly remote location. We were overlooking the airport in a very rural area.

There were a couple of scarecrows actually set up on a field between us and the runway. Behind us were water buffalo and peasants.

So I think it just took a while for the authorities to figure out that we were there. I would doubt that there was that much planning involved with it -- Wolf.

BLITZER: Lisa Rose Weaver on Hainan Island, thank you very much. We'll be back to you as this day continues.

China meanwhile is calling its decision to release the crew a humanitarian gesture. We go live to Beijing, where CNN bureau chief Rebecca MacKinnon picks up that part of the story.

Rebecca, tell us how they're reacting in Beijing to this dramatic development.

REBECCA MACKINNON, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, Wolf, the official state-controlled media is reacting with great glee, declaring victory. This headline this morning says, "America Finally Apologizes." That's very much the tone, also saying this incident is not over, that China still has issues with the United States over violation of Chinese airspace. China is going to continue to press the United States hard for concessions concerning surveillance flights and other issues.

Also, China remaining very upset, as the media points out, over the loss of Chinese fighter pilot Wang Wei. While the search for him continues, the reports now are saying that there is very little hope of finding him and recognizing that reality.

Now, however, one very interesting thing, it does appear that even though the state-controlled media is very much trumpeting a victorious tone, not all Chinese citizens feel that way. We went onto the Internet this morning, looked at some chat rooms, and there were a number of people who were extremely critical of the Chinese government having let off the United States too easily.

One comment was "Broken Jiang thinks that sorry is apologize" -- the implication being that they felt that President Jiang was weak and didn't understand the difference between the words "sorry" used in the U.S. letter and the word "apologize," which is the word the Chinese authorities and the Chinese media had been demanding the United States use, pointing out that the Chinese people know the difference.

Another comment on a similar Web site was "Wang Wei, we cry for you," referring to the lost Chinese fighter pilot. And then this person went on to say: "We can't go out into the streets and protest our feelings on this incident without going to jail, but the U.S. gets off with just the word sorry."

So definitely, now, you have to keep in mind that Internet Web sites are kind of like radio talk shows in the United States: You tend to get most opinionated people weighing in with their opinions. But it's very clear that even though the Chinese government is spinning this as a big victory not everyone in China thinks that it is -- Wolf.

BLITZER: Rebecca MacKinnon in Beijing, thank you very much.

Announcing the resolution of what he called a "difficult situation," President Bush today left unresolved issues with China -- several of them remain on the back burner as he focused on the U.S. crew members and their families.

Let's go live to CNN's White House correspondent, Kelly Wallace.

Kelly, you know that the president obviously is on his way back to the White House right now. He was watching and listening all of this aboard Air Force One. Tell us how he's reacting.

KELLY WALLACE, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Absolutely, Wolf. He was actually having dinner in a conference room on Air Force One when he was listening to audio, CNN's air actually. And when he heard that the 24 crew members were actually on that plane and that the plane taking off from Hainan Island, the president was with his national security adviser, Dr. Condoleezza Rice. And he looked at Dr. Rice and said -- quote -- "You did a fine job. Congratulations. Our team didn't turn the first incident into a crisis."

And at this very moment, Mr. Bush is en route via motorcade from Andrews Air Force Base here to the White House. White House Press Secretary Ari Fleischer also telling reporters that the president is pleased for the families, pleased for the crew members, and pleased that this accident didn't turn into a crisis.

So clearly, Wolf, this administration quite pleased with how this all turned out. And as you know -- you've been reporting on this over these 11 days -- this administration trying to say all along that it didn't want to turn what it viewed as an accident into what it thought would become an international incident. Senior administration officials saying throughout that there was no sense of a crisis. People didn't approach the situation as one. They viewed Mr. Bush as taking sort of a steady-as-she-goes approach: Even one U.S. official telling us earlier this afternoon that the president maybe more than other advisers around him really viewed that this strategy that this White House was putting forward would turn into a successful conclusion.

So clearly, Mr. Bush pleased tonight -- Wolf.

BLITZER: Kelly, I know you've been well-briefed, but is there some point where officials think that there was a turning point in getting this agreement resolved?

WALLACE: Absolutely. We're starting to get many more details about that.

First, they believe that sort of the road map -- road map -- excuse me -- was out there a week ago, a week ago Wednesday, that following Secretary of State Colin Powell's letter to China's highest- ranking diplomat, Vice Premier Qian Qichen. After that, it was really about the language.

And what's interesting in this U.S. letter, first the U.S. put forward the word "regret." Then that changed to "sorry." And then Saturday evening it changed to "very sorry," the U.S. saying it was very sorry about the loss of life, the apparent death of that Chinese fighter pilot, and also very sorry that that American surveillance plane entered China's airspace and landed on China's territory without any verbal clearance.

But then since then, Wolf, since Saturday night until today, this administration really waiting to hear from Beijing and get the yes, see if it would accept this American offer. It did get that acceptance, of course, today.

And as for, Wolf, what maybe led to this, the administration believing that the Chinese president, Jiang Zemin, may have been feeling some pressure: the pressure of the administration saying that the longer this goes on, there could be some damage between the relations -- between the two countries, that members of Congress, the U.S. Congress were canceling trips to China, that some U.S. businesses were talking about canceling trips. Obviously, concerns about issues such as trade with China. So the administration believing that some of that pressure and some of that from those developments may have contributed to this -- Wolf.

BLITZER: Kelly Wallace at the White House, thank you very much.

While the crew members of the EP-3 are now headed home, what about their damaged plane? And what about reconnaissance flights by other U.S. aircraft?

CNN military affairs correspondent Jamie McIntyre joins us now live from the Pentagon. Jamie, what about those questions?

JAMIE MCINTYRE, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, don't expect answers to those in the Pentagon briefing that's coming up in just about a half hour from now. Officials there will simply give a quick reaction to what's happened and a little bit of a time line of what they expect to happen next.

But those broader questions of what about the plane and how can these incidents be avoided in the future is something that's going to occupy the Pentagon's time in the days and weeks ahead.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

MCINTYRE (voice-over): With the $100 million U.S. Navy EP-3 surveillance plane still parked at a military airstrip on Hainan Island, focus now shifts on a meeting between U.S. and Chinese officials planned for next week.

ADM. DENNIS BLAIR, U.S. PACIFIC COMMANDER: We have follow-on consultations with the Chinese government to sort out some of what went on and what we ought to do about it and how we proceed in the future.

MCINTYRE: Under the agreement, U.S. and Chinese representatives will discuss three agenda items: One, the cause of the April 1st collision; two, ways to avoid future accidents; and three, a plan for the prompt return of the plane. A chief area of disagreement is likely to be the Chinese demand that the U.S. stop sending its reconnaissance planes so close to the Chinese coast.

REAR. ADM. ERIC MCVADON, U.S. NAVY: I suspect that we will resist increasing the distance off the coast. I think we will strongly advocate increasing the distance between the intercepting airplane and the intercepted airplane.

MCINTYRE: The United States insists the reconnaissance flights are perfectly legal under international law and provide vital intelligence for the United States and its allies in the Pacific.

WILLIAM COHEN, FORMER SECRETARY OF DEFENSE: It's important for us to know as much as we can about what activity is taking place that might pose a threat to any of our friends, to ourselves. And so I think it's important that they continue.

MCINTYRE: Pentagon sources indicate there have been no surveillance flights over the South China Sea during the standoff. Officially, the Pentagon won't discuss that or say when the next flight might be.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

MCINTYRE: Senior Pentagon officials say it's fine for the U.S. to say it's willing to discuss curbing U.S. surveillance flights along the China coast so long as diplomats don't actually give up the right of any U.S. planes to fly in international airspace.

As one Pentagon officer said today, "That's why it's called international airspace" -- Wolf.

BLITZER: Jamie McIntyre at the Pentagon, and CNN, of course, will carry that news conference, that Pentagon briefing live in about a half an hour from now, 8:45 Eastern Time. And at 11:30 p.m. tonight Eastern Time, CNN will have live coverage of the arrival of that charter commercial plane bringing the 24 U.S. crew members to the Andersen Air Force Base in Guam.

We'll have live coverage around 11:30 p.m. Eastern.

Up next, he's seen many of the ups and downs of the U.S.-China relationship. I'll discuss the ins and outs of dealing with Beijing with former Secretary of State George Shultz.

And later, before any family reunions can take place, the U.S. crew has some work to do. We'll get a live report from Hawaii.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BLITZER: Welcome back. He dealt with a different generation of Chinese leaders, but while some of the faces have changed, many of the issues remain the same. Joining me now live to discuss the U.S.-China relationship, where it's been, where it's going, George Shultz, the secretary of state during the Reagan years.

Secretary Shultz, thank you for joining us, and let's get right to the relationship. How much damage has there been to the relationship between the United States and China as a result of these 11 days?

GEORGE SHULTZ, FORMER SECRETARY OF STATE: There's an upside to it, and the upside is that President Bush and his very professional team must have impressed the Chinese -- and for that matter, the whole world -- as a people, as a president who is candid, open, but also as a president who has steel in his backbone.

So they work their way through this process successfully, and I think it was impressive. And that is bound to be a good thing for the U.S.-China relationship.

BLITZER: China had demanded a formal apology, didn't get it, but the United States in the letter twice says it's "very sorry," one says that it expresses sincere regret, Chinese media interpreting that as, in effect, an apology. Who blinked first in this standoff?

SHULTZ: Well, I'm not going to try to say who blinked first, but I do think you have focused on the right words. Of course, we're sorry that somebody lost their life, and to be sure, we're certainly sorry that we had to land in that Hainan military airport. Another airport would have been much better. And you want to land under the right circumstances.

But the word "apology" is the key, and the president stood firm. And the reason...

BLITZER: As you know -- yeah, I was going to say, Secretary Shultz, as you know, there's deep anger in the U.S. Congress -- Democrats and Republicans. The Republican senator from Arizona, John McCain, issued a statement tonight in which he says that China's behavior has dashed a lot of hopes of a strong U.S.-China relationship.

Let me read a brief excerpt from his written statement. He says this: "These doubts been raised by China's own inexcusable conduct, its reprehensible detention of our air crew as it dishonestly attempted to shift blame for the midair collision to the United States from where it belongs -- with the Chinese policy of dangerously challenging our lawful and essential surveillance flights in international airspace over the South China Sea."

How's China going to deal with that kind of anger on Capitol Hill, given the trade relations, economic, military issues at stake?

SHULTZ: Well, I think that Senator McCain is certainly right to be upset, as all of us are. And there's more. You have a Chinese -- an American of Chinese descent detained recently going across the border. And we have a lot of those things to be concerned about with China.

But the big point here is that the Chinese leadership tested President Bush and they found a man with steel in his backbone. And that is going to do a lot for our ability to conduct the right kind of relationship between the U.S. and China.

BLITZER: As far as future U.S. surveillance flights off the coast of China, in the letter that Ambassador Prueher wrote to the Chinese foreign minister, it ends with this: "We acknowledge your government's intention to raise U.S. reconnaissance missions near China in the meetings scheduled to begin next week, one week from today." Should the United States rethink those surveillance flights off the coast of China?

SHULTZ: Well, I think in reading that sentence, you read the key sentence. And what it shows that President Bush refused to change our pattern on those reconnaissance flights. And certainly, that's the right stance.

Now, I think really that's what this has been all about. Our planes fly in international airspace and we do reconnaissance on China from that spot. Now the Chinese don't like that, and they've had fighter planes harassing our planes. And that's been going on for a while.

And probably what happened -- I don't know -- but probably what happened is that one Chinese fighter plane got a little too close and frisky, and clipped our plane, and his plane went down and our plane became badly wounded. So, that's harassment, and I suppose you'd have to say that the detaining of our -- the crew members on the ground for such a long period was another form of harassment.

BLITZER: Secretary Schultz...

SHULTZ: The point is that President Bush stood up to this and he'll continue to stand up to it.

BLITZER: ... how should all of this play as far as the next major decision the Bush administration will have to make as far as selling a new class of destroyers and radar equipment to Taiwan?

SHULTZ: Well, that has to be judged in terms of Taiwan's defensive needs. And of course, the Chinese behavior has a lot to do with what those needs are. And the fact that they've deployed a lot of missiles right across the Taiwan Straits from China is something that you'd have to pay attention to.

And I -- as I understand it, in the meetings that the president has already had with the Chinese former foreign minister, who visited him in Washington, this point was made.

BLITZER: George Shultz, the former secretary of state, during the Reagan presidency, I want to thank you very much for joining us on this evening.

Thank you.

SHULTZ: Thank you.

BLITZER: And just ahead, we'll go live to Hickam Air Force Base in Honolulu for more on what awaits the crew members once they get there. Stay with us.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BLITZER: Welcome back. Once the 24 freed Americans arrive in Guam from Hainan Island, they're expected to be transferred to a military C-17 and fly to Hickam Air Force Base in Honolulu. That's where we find our national correspondent, Martin Savidge.

Marty, tell us about...

MARTIN SAVIDGE, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Wolf, preparations have been -- preparations have been under way here at Hickam Air Force Base since early this morning, ever since the news actually was learned. Actually, Hawaiian time it came down in the middle of the night.

And they are anticipating that the flight is going to eventually make it here, but no one can give you a specific timetable as to when it will arrive with those crew members on board. They say it's not so simple simply to add up the flying time from Hainan Island, then to Guam, and then from Guam here to Hawaii. They say there are other factors that come into play. But the base is getting prepared.

One thing they point out, though, they stress that this is an intermediate stop for this flight as it will continue on eventually to Whidbey Island, which is the home base in the state of Washington for the crew and for the aircraft that was originally taken down or went down in China.

So this is not going to be a major affair here, and that is something the Navy has been trying to stress. They say the major reunion, the major welcome home is going to take place there in Washington state because that's where the families are, and they certainly want the families involved. After all, that's what this has all been about.

So we await to hear when the arrival will be. The debriefing, though, here scheduled to go on for three days, medical checkups as well, and then eventually, they'll move on home -- Wolf.

BLITZER: Martin Savidge in Hawaii, thank you very much. After the break, we'll have an update on the release of the 24 Americans from China. Stay with us.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BLITZER: Updating the night's big story: After an 11-day standoff, 24 crew members of a U.S. surveillance plane are now on their way home. A chartered Continental Airlines jet carrying the crew left China's Hainan Island just about one hour ago. China agreed to their release today after receiving a letter from the United States that used the words -- quote -- "very sorry." The crew members are headed to Guam. Once there, they're expected to be transferred to a C-17 for a flight to Hawaii.

And there, they'll undergo three days of debriefings and medical exams. Then, they'll return home to Whidbey Island, the naval air station in Washington state.

Chinese and U.S. officials plan to meet one week from today to discuss who was at fault for the collision and the prospects for returning the U.S. plane.

Please stay with CNN throughout the night. Much more coverage on the U.S.-China agreement coming up on "LARRY KING LIVE" at the top of the hour.

Up next, Greta Van Susteren. She's standing by to tell us what she has -- Greta.

GRETA VAN SUSTEREN, HOST, CNN'S "THE POINT": Well, Wolf, tonight, we're going to carry on just where you left off. We have two members of Congress as well as two reporters who've actually spent time in China. We're going to talk about what's going on as that plane heads back to the United States -- Wolf.

BLITZER: OK, Greta, we're also standing by for a Pentagon briefing in about 15 minutes.

Tomorrow night, we'll, of course, have much more in-depth coverage of the release of the 24 Americans. Until then, thanks very much for watching. I'm Wolf Blitzer in Washington. "THE POINT WITH GRETA VAN SUSTEREN" begins right now.

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