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American Morning

U.S/China Standoff: American Officials Meet With Crew

Aired April 09, 2001 - 10:00   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.
DARYN KAGAN, CNN ANCHOR: It is now 10:00 P.M. in Hainan, China, where the day is ending with somewhat bolstered hopes among U.S. diplomats. A short time ago, U.S. officials were allowed to meet briefly with all 24 crew members of an American surveillance plane. It was the fourth meeting since a midair collision forced the plane's emergency landing on Hainan Island. President Bush has sent a letter of regret to the wife of the Chinese pilot who was downed and presumed killed in the collision.

LEON HARRIS, CNN ANCHOR: For the latest, let's go now to the island awash in this diplomatic uncertainty. CNN's Lisa Rose Weaver joins us now by way of video phone. She is in Haikou, which is the capital of Hainan Island -- Lisa.

LISA ROSE WEAVER, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Leon, yes, U.S. officials were, a couple of hours ago, able to meet with all 24 crew members and the way that the meeting occurred represents a couple of, some progress.

First of all, they did not have to first sit down with Chinese officials to go over the ground rules for the meeting with the detained crew members. Instead, they were able to go directly to meet the crew members and they saw all 24 of them, unlike the last time they met, at the third meeting, when General Neal Sealock and an official from the Guangzhou consulate were only able to sit down with eight of the detained crewmen. So there's some progress on the format of those meetings.

Now, there's still no word here on when a release would be. Those are diplomatic negotiations going on at higher levels in Washington and Beijing. What happens there will in all likelihood trickle down here. We still don't know when a release looks likely.

General Sealock was able to report that the 24 Americans are in very good health physically and mentally. He described their living conditions as hotel like, clean, with air conditioning. Their laundry is being done. They're being well fed. They are getting printed out copies of e-mail messages from friends and family in the United States. The general stressed, though, of course, that they very much want to come home and that remains the main diplomatic mission here for the U.S. officials on the ground here in Hainan.

After he spoke briefly, the Chinese side was represented by Mr. Chen Ci of Hainan's Foreign Affairs Office. He said that the Hainan, that the people of Hainan have been disturbed by U.S. reconnaissance flights around Hainan Island that he said caused the collision more than a week ago. He added that U.S. tourists were more than welcome to come to Hainan Island but the spy planes had better not -- Leon?

HARRIS: Thanks, much, Lisa Rose Weaver reporting live this morning from Hainan Island -- Daryn.

KAGAN: And now as the stand-off enters its second week, tensions inch a bit higher. U.S. diplomats are pushing for daily meetings with the detained crew members, but there's no word on whether China is willing to meet that request.

Our national security correspondent David Ensor joining us now from the State Department with more on that -- David, good morning.

DAVID ENSOR, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, Daryn, yes, good morning.

That's right, the U.S. wants to meet with the detainees, as Secretary Powell calls them, as often as is possible but doesn't have a clear answer from the Chinese as to whether daily meetings will be possible or not. There has been another high level diplomatic contact that I can report, however. Admiral Prueher, the U.S. ambassador in Beijing, had a meeting today at the Chinese foreign ministry with his counterparts. We haven't got a read out on that meeting yet, but officials here looking, reading the tea leaves closely, looking for any reason for optimism or pessimism do note that the Chinese, for the first time ever, announced that meeting before it even took place and announced it in neutral language, simply said that this is one of a series of diplomatic contacts to discuss the incident of the collision over the sea.

So no sort of inflamed language, neutral tone, some here hoping that this may suggest that the Chinese government wants to prepare its public for what will eventually be a diplomatic solution to this crisis.

Now, there's two public messages that the U.S. government wants to put out to the public here and, of course, to the Chinese government. One is -- and it was put very clearly by Secretary of State Powell on the talk shows over the weekend -- that the United States is not willing to make an apology, that the U.S. does not believe there is anything to apologize for.

He did express sorrow over the death of the pilot. The word regret has been used by the president. But apology is not something, that's not a word that will pass U.S. officials' lips, we are told.

Now, the other main part of the message was put best, perhaps, this morning by President Bush.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

GEORGE W. BUSH, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: Every day that goes by increases the potential that our relations with China could be damaged and our hope is that this matter gets resolved quickly.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ENSOR: Now, the formula that the U.S. is working towards for a resolution of this is sort of a three point plan. First, the crew would be returned. Secondly, there would be an exchange of explanations of the accident, each side giving their version. And finally, there would be some sort of joint U.S.-Chinese investigation into who really was to blame and an effort made to try and make sure that when future accidents occur, and they are likely to occur, that this could, this would not blow up in the way it has this time.

How long is this going to take? Officials here are not willing to put bets on that. It could take a long time. But they do, as I noted at the beginning, see some glimmers of optimism in the fact that the Chinese are now telling their people that there are diplomatic talks going on -- Daryn.

KAGAN: David, I think a lot of people might have checked out on this story over the weekend and the last they heard was Secretary of State Colin Powell on Friday coming from the State Department with some very encouraging words, saying things were going in an encouraging manner and that progress was being made and now it seems like really nothing happened over the weekend.

Any indication as to why it would appear that the pace has slowed?

ENSOR: Well, late Friday we heard from Deputy Prime Minister Qian Qichen in China saying that an apology would be necessary and we also heard from the head of China's military using some quite strong language about the issue. So there was an increased concern that the Chinese were sort of settling in and becoming more intransigent.

There have been diplomatic meetings. There were yesterday. There have now been, we've just heard, today. So there's a sense that the thing is working along, but just diplomacy takes time and there's no one predicting here how long this will take.

KAGAN: David Ensor at the State Department, thank you.

And now, while Washington's diplomatic community avoids inflammatory words such as hostages or prisoners, some Americans are voicing their frustrations without such restraints. About two dozen protesters gathered outside the Chinese embassy in Washington yesterday and coaxed support from passing motorists. The group also is asking Americans to support -- to sport yellow ribbons to show support for the crew members being detained.

Just about 10 minutes from now, we'll take a look at China's internal struggles and how that might be shaping the internal dispute. Stay with us for that.

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