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American Morning

U.S/China Standoff: The Mood in China

Aired April 09, 2001 - 11:08   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: Earlier today, U.S. officials met with all 24 American crewmembers detained on China's Hainan Island. It was the first time they were able to meet with all the crewmembers together since last week.

Joining us with more from China is reporter Shai Oster who we have been visiting with since this situation began. He is Beijing.

Shai, hello once again.

SHAI OSTER, JOURNALIST: How are you:

KAGAN: I'm doing just fine. Can you give us an update on what the mood is there in Beijing, what you're able to pick up from the media and looking on the Internet.

OSTER: Well, it's very mixed messages. As you know, over the weekend, on Sunday, it seemed that the government was ratcheting up the rhetoric. In particular, there were harsh statements by Chi Haotian, the China defense minister, and also the Vice Premier Qian Qichen had said that the expressions of regret were unacceptable. That happened on Sunday.

Then again today, the evening news seemed to get into play quite heavy on the whole incident. But, at the same time, tonight for the first time, you had state media reporting about the ongoing negotiations between the U.S. and China for the release. So it seems unclear exactly -- I mean, these messages can be read either way.

You can either -- some people are suggesting that the military is calling all the shots. Others are saying that this is merely rhetoric to appease nationalist sentiment, but, in fact, behind the scenes, the -- the tone is much more amicable than that.

KAGAN: And what about this idea of President Bush sending the letter to the pilot's wife?

OSTER: There's been no word on that yet in the state media. Again, his expression of regret was also run a few days late in state media. So it could be something that may show up tomorrow or the day after.

But, certainly, nothing has come across on the state -- Xinhua, which is the official news wire. They haven't reported anything about either Colin using the word -- Colin Powell using the word "sorry" for the first time or President Bush's letter to the wife of the downed airman. That's not to say that they could maybe run it at a later point.

Now what's been going on is they have been playing up the continued -- I guess it's now in its ninth day -- search for the downed airman. By this point, it's pretty widely acknowledged that he's probably dead. But the government has certainly not said that, and I think, in part, that's an indication of their concern that, once this pilot is declared dead, it could become a flashpoint for perhaps sort of a repeat of the demonstrations that happened two years after the Bosnia bombing.

KAGAN: Shai Oster in Beijing, thank you for the latest from there.

And we want to remind our viewers to stay tuned here for all the developments on the U.S.-China standoff.

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