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CNN Live Saturday

Third Meeting With U.S. Spy Plane Crew Underway

Aired April 07, 2001 - 13:00   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.
DONNA KELLEY, CNN ANCHOR: The fate of a U.S. Navy spy plane and its crew may now depend on the wording of a document being drafted between the United States and China, but it's tricky. China wants a flat out apology which is more than the United States is willing to give.

CNN's national security correspondent David Ensor is at the State Department to bring us up to date -- David.

DAVID ENSOR, CNN NATIONAL SECURITY CORRESPONDENT: Well, Donna, the latest is that on Saturday, Chinese time, there were two further meetings between Admiral Prueher, the U.S. ambassador to Beijing, and his equivalents at the Chinese foreign ministry, two more meetings to discuss a way out of this impasse, what kind of language in a letter, in a joint letter, could be agreed to, that would allow the two sides to back down, allow the Chinese to let the American crew members leave their country as soon as possible.

It's nighttime now in Beijing, and future meetings are expected, but probably not for some hours to come. The pressure, however, on the U.S. side, U.S. officials have said, will be growing, basically because of public opinion and congressional pressure. We got a sampling of that from senior Republican Henry Hyde of Illinois, earlier today, in a taping for the EVANS, HUNT, NOVAK & SHIELDS program.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP, EVANS, NOVAK, HUNT & SHIELDS)

REP. HENRY HYDE (R), ILLINOIS: I would call them hostages. They're being held against their will, and five days is a long time especially if you're the one being held in detention. So as time goes on, this situation will intensify, will get more difficult, and I think -- I should think -- the Chinese would be as anxious to bring it to finality as we are.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ENSOR: That is certainly the hope here at the State Department, and on the part of the Bush Administration On Hainan Island where the crew members are, there have been meetings in recent hours between U.S. and Chinese officials with the U.S. group seeking to have a third meeting with the American crew members. No word yet on whether that's been possible -- Donna. KELLEY: David, as we continue our conversation with you, we just got some information now from our Lisa Weaver, who is on Hainan Island, and we hear that the third meeting is now underway. So that's the latest that we have from Hainan Island, that the third meeting is underway. That's right.

Have you heard any timetable, David, that -- one report I saw said perhaps this could be resolved by Monday. Have you heard anything there at the State Department, anybody putting any timetable on it at all?

ENSOR: Well, not really a timetable, Donna, but officials have said they think that they've made quite a lot of progress on this joint letter that is being proposed and some of the other ideas to follow up. They think the thing could be resolved rather quickly, but the timetable, they say, is really up to the Chinese.

KELLEY: David Ensor and the State Department. Thank you.

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