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CNN Saturday Morning News

Bush Relaxes at End of U.S.-China Standoff

Aired April 14, 2001 - 09:06   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.
MILES O'BRIEN, CNN ANCHOR: President Bush will not be joining the homecoming ceremonies for the returning U.S. crew members at Whidbey Island today. He is spending the Easter weekend at the ranch in Texas. But senior administration officials are offering new behind-the-scenes details of the role the president played in deciding the U.S. strategy behind the crew's release.

CNN's Kelly Wallace has that.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

KELLY WALLACE, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): From the beginning of the standoff with Beijing, aides say President Bush took a hands-on approach, meeting in the Oval Office every morning with top advisers. Two days after the collision, according to a senior aide, the president urges his team not to escalate the incident into a crisis.

GEORGE W. BUSH, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: The first step should be immediate access by our embassy personnel to our crew members.

WALLACE: Wednesday, Mr. Bush asks his team if there is a way to address the concerns of both countries. His advisers begin drafting a letter. The president approves the use of the word "regret" for the apparent death of the Chinese fighter pilot.

BUSH: First, I regret that a Chinese pilot is missing, and I regret one of their airplanes is lost.

WALLACE: But senior aides say the Chinese wanted more, so the president first approves the word "sorry," and then over the weekend, from Camp David, the words "very sorry." From early Sunday morning until Wednesday, U.S. officials say they waited for the Chinese to respond to the U.S. letter. Mr. Bush publicly and privately urges patience.

From time to time, I think he could buck us up a little bit and say, you know, "Diplomacy takes time."

WALLACE: The president fires away questions and talks with Brigadier General Neil Sealock about the condition of the crew, asking if they have Bibles and if they are exercising. Tuesday, he reaches out to four world leaders, the leaders of Great Britain, France, Canada, and Brazil, welcoming any lobbying of Beijing.

But by early Wednesday, he prepares to tell the American people the crew is coming home.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

WALLACE: And as we mentioned at the top, Mr. Bush won't be traveling to Washington State for those homecoming ceremonies. The president wanting the crew members to have their privacy, also, in the words of his spokesman, Mr. Bush does not believe that politicians always need to insert themselves into tender moments.

Meantime, the Bush administration is preparing for this meeting on Wednesday between U.S. and Chinese officials, a meeting in which Mr. Bush said the U.S. will ask tough questions of the Chinese about the collision and about China's challenging of these American surveillance flights -- Miles.

O'BRIEN: Kelly, in your conversations with administration officials, do you know if the president at any point picked up the hot line, which would have had Jiang Zemin on the other end of the line? Certainly his father would have been inclined to do that. He was very quick to call world leaders. What about the younger Bush?

WALLACE: No, no phone calls ever took place between Mr. Bush and his Chinese counterpart. Aides do say that early on, Mr. Bush asked if he should make such a call. The consensus of his advisers was no, with his national security adviser, Condoleezza Rice, saying, "You can only play that card once."

Further, his aides believed that such a call might only escalate the situation, and that's exactly what Mr. Bush was trying not to do -- Miles.

O'BRIEN: All right, CNN's Kelly Wallace at the ranch, thank you very much.

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