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American Morning
Pentagon Says Chinese Sometimes Fly Recklessly; China Blames United States, Repeats Demand for Apology
Aired April 05, 2001 - 09:01 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.
DARYN KAGAN, CNN ANCHOR: We're going to start, though, with the latest demands and the diplomatic moves in the standoff between the U.S. and China. The stalemate is now in its fifth day.
Here are the headlines: China says it believes the U.S. broke international law by landing the crippled Navy plane on its territory without permission. The crew of the plane is being questioned as part of its investigation.
Secretary of State Colin Powell has sent a letter to China urging the release of the 24 crew members. Earlier, Powell expressed regret for the accident and the loss of the Chinese fighter pilot.
A high-ranking lawmaker accuses the Chinese air force of playing "an aggressive game of aerial chicken." And a published report says the pilot lost in the accident had flown dangerously close to the air -- to U.S. aircraft before.
LEON HARRIS, CNN ANCHOR: And we have extensive coverage from Beijing and Washington this morning and all parts in between.
Let's go first to the Pentagon. CNN national correspondent Eileen O'Connor joins us now live. She's got the latest -- Eileen.
EILEEN O'CONNOR, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, Leon, Pentagon officials say, from assessment of the damage to the EP-3, through some photos that have been published and their own surveillance photos, they do believe that the F-8 Chinese fighter was flying more beneath the EP-3 than is usual in any kind of wing formation. But they are not saying whether or not the EP-3 actually made any kind of maneuver that the -- that might have caused the collision.
They are saying they do not give credence to Chinese reports that the EP-3 made a sudden, unexpected move and that was what caused the collision.
Pentagon officials also are, in addition, not talking too much about the specifics of the fighter pilot, Wang Wei. A former commander of the pilots who flew these mission in the area -- the U.S. pilot -- said that the Americans knew all about the tactics of just about every F-8 Chinese fighter pilot and how aggressive or dangerous their tactics, individually, were. But Pentagon officials are not confirming whether or not they had a specific photo of Wang Wei or whether or not they complained specifically about his aggressive tactics. But what Pentagon officials are saying and what former Secretary of Defense William Cohen says is that they, in fact, made a complaint to the Chinese about the increasingly aggressive tactics of their pilots.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
WILLIAM COHEN, FORMER U.S. SECRETARY OF DEFENSE: We did lodge complaints with the Chinese officials by virtue of the kind of proximity that Chinese pilots were maintaining relative to the reconnaissance aircraft. A very strong protest was lodged back in January: these fighter aircraft coming within a matter of feet of the reconnaissance aircraft and thereby posing a danger to all concerned. That apparently is what happened here.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
O'CONNOR: Apparently, it was a U.S. pilot that said, in fact, one of the Chinese fighters on an earlier mission had come within 50 feet, Leon, of his airplane. And he was very concerned about the safety, thinking an accident could happen with such aggressive flying tactics -- Leon.
HARRIS: All right, thanks much, Eileen O'Connor, reporting live this morning from the Pentagon. We will be talking with you throughout the morning, no doubt -- Daryn.
KAGAN: Meanwhile, for its part, China is sticking by its position that the U.S. should apologize for the accident. We get Chinese reaction now to the latest U.S. moves in this report from CNN Beijing bureau chief Rebecca MacKinnon.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
REBECCA MACKINNON, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): China's Foreign Ministry says U.S. regret for the loss of a Chinese pilot is a step in the right direction, but not enough to end the crisis.
SUN YUXI, FOREIGN MINISTRY SPOKESMAN (through translator): The U.S. side should admit its mistakes, apologize and explain to the Chinese people. This is the first step.
MACKINNON: U.S. diplomats waited for a second day in a hotel on Hainan Island without word as to when they will next get to see the U.S. crew. China says the U.S. will first have to meet its demands.
YUXI (through translator): If the U.S. side takes a cooperative approach, we will consider another visit.
MACKINNON: The U.S. has said it will not apologize. But the U.S. ambassador has not given up hope.
JOSEPH PRUEHER, U.S. AMBASSADOR TO CHINA: We're working on meetings. Our communications are better. And we're -- both our governments are working really hard on trying to solve this.
MACKINNON: Another revelation: China's Foreign Ministry confirmed the 24 men and women have been subject to questioning.
YUXI (through translator): They have caused this air collision incident. It is fully natural for competent authorities in China to question them.
MACKINNON: In the Chinese media, the focus remains on the down fighter pilot Wang Wei. The search for him continues, although there is little hope of finding him alive. But the public is not allowed to translate angry speech into angry protest action. One man who tried to write up a protest banner outside the U.S. Embassy was detained. So was another person who tried to put a poster on a tree.
(on camera): Chinese observers say the fact that protests have been stopped is meant to be a signal that authorities are trying to prevent this latest incident from poisoning U.S.-China relations any more than necessary. But with no contact between U.S. diplomats and the U.S. crew since Tuesday night, it's unclear whether many in the United States are going to notice that signal.
Rebecca MacKinnon, CNN, Beijing.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
KAGAN: And in the midst of the standoff with the United States, China's president Jiang Zemin is kicking off a tour of South America and Cuba. He's scheduled to arrive in Chile next hour for his first stop on his six-nation tour. Jiang left Beijing yesterday after again saying the United States should apologize for the collision between the two planes near China's coast.
HARRIS: Well, the Bush administration continues to press for the release of the 24 crew members and an end to the standoff.
CNN White House correspondent Kelly Wallace joins us with the latest in the White House's efforts to achieve both those ends-- good morning, Kelly.
KELLY WALLACE, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, good morning, Leon.
An interesting development here, because the White House, for the first time, is saying it is somewhat encouraged. Now, U.S. officials are saying that they certainly do not believe that the 24 crew members violated international law, as Beijing is suggesting -- these officials also well aware that China is continuing to demand a formal apology.
Still, though, one U.S. official I talked with earlier today said that the Chinese have given the U.S. some -- quote -- "encouraging signals" over the past day -- the encouragement coming from the fact the Chinese continue talking to the Americans, which apparently was not the case earlier in the week.
In fact, after Secretary of State Colin Powell voiced regret about the apparent death of that Chinese fighter pilot involved in the weekend collision, U.S. Ambassador to China Joseph Prueher had two different meetings with officials in Beijing yesterday.
Still though, at the same time, the administration appears to be trying to take diplomacy to a higher level. Secretary Powell handed a letter yesterday to the Chinese ambassador here in Washington, a letter that is to be delivered to China's highest ranking diplomat, the vice-premier, who just was in Washington a few weeks ago meeting with Secretary Powell, as well as with President Bush. And in the letter, a senior State Department official tells CNN that the letter -- quote -- "is discussing the importance of releasing the crew and the need to discuss issues in the dispute."
Now, as for President Bush, he was silent on this issue yesterday. He let his aides do all of the talking. Today, he does have a couple of events on his schedule, including a speech before the American Society of Newspaper Editors. And if those editors have a chance to ask some questions, you can certainly count on them asking about this issue.
The White House is saying that Mr. Bush is focused on the most productive way to get those 24 crew members and that plane back to the United States. The approach, so far, appears to be: Have Mr. Bush speak out and take a firm stance when necessary. But, at the same time, leave enough room, enough diplomatic room, for Beijing to end the standoff.
Aides also, Leon, here are trying to put forward that there is a sense of business as usual, although these aides do know the stakes are so very high for U.S.-China relations, as well as for the president's standing on the world stage. And the longer that this goes on, those concerns continue to grow -- Leon.
HARRIS: Well, Kelly, from those of us who remember his father's standing in China and with Chinese officials in the past, many of us are wondering how much consultation President Bush is taking with his father, the senior George Bush. Is the White House being very forthcoming at all about that?
WALLACE: That's a great question, Leon, and it was asked of Ari Fleischer, the White House press secretary, yesterday. One would assume that Mr. Bush would certainly be reaching out to his father for his expertise when it comes to issues related to China. And Ari Fleischer would not discuss that -- would not answer the question -- if Mr. Bush was talking to his father, what they had talked about, any advice he had received -- basically classifying that as private conversations that Mr. Bush may be having.
There's also been some speculation out there about if the U.S. was to decide to send an envoy to Beijing to try to settle this, could Mr. Bush go ahead and ask his father to do that. That appears to be a nonstarter -- but, again, the White House not being very forthcoming about if those talks are going on and exactly what advice the former president is offering the current one -- Leon.
HARRIS: Yes, just another case where we need another fly on the wall in there.
WALLACE: Absolutely.
HARRIS: Kelly Wallace at the White House, thanks much. We'll talk to you a little later on this morning -- Daryn.
KAGAN: Well, the Pentagon is not exactly elaborating on exactly how much sensitive equipment the crew of the Navy plane managed to destroy, but just having the plane in its possession could provide China with access to U.S. secrets.
CNN national security correspondent David Ensor has that story.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
DAVID ENSOR, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Among the sensitive equipment on board the EP-3 surveillance plane, an in-line network encryptor, a box like this one that puts any information transmitting to or from the plane into top secret code. An official at the National Security Agency recently showed CNN how the device is designed to be disabled quickly if the plane is going to fall into the hands of a potential adversary.
DAVID WARD, NATIONAL SECURITY AGENCY: The soldier could pull the CIK out. This is half of the key. The other half of the key is in here. You see this goes through a self-text.
My pings have stopped, my video has stopped over here. Pretty much this is a boat anchor without this little CIK.
ENSOR (on camera): What if it's not pulled out?
WARD: If it's not pulled out and a plane crashes, for example, this is a very -- also it's a sensitive box. If -- there are screws on the bottom of this to open the box. If one of those screws gets loosened to a certain degree, the box will tamper and become an anchor. That actually means that the software and firmware inside the box are blown away, absolutely useless. It cannot be recovered in the field.
ENSOR (voice-over): U.S. officials were relieved to hear from the crew that it had -- quote -- "successfully executed its destruction plan" for sensitive information and equipment before Chinese authorities took control of the aircraft, but experts still believe there will be intelligence losses.
(on camera): How bad is the intelligence damage to the United States? So much depends on how successful the crew was in destroying sensitive equipment. But if time was running short, if all else fails, each one of those planes, officials say, has a low-tech solution on board as well: an axe.
David Ensor, CNN, Washington.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
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