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American Morning

U.S. Diplomats Prepare for Talks in Beijing

Aired April 17, 2001 - 11:13   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.
LEON HARRIS, CNN ANCHOR: U.S. and Chinese diplomats are preparing for talks scheduled to begin in Beijing in just a matter of hours. The meeting was called to settle issues raised by the Hainan Island standoff over a U.S. spy plane.

CNN's senior White House correspondent John King joins us now. He's got the latest from the -- John, good morning once again.

JOHN KING, CNN SR. WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Good morning to you again, Leon, as well.

The agenda limited to the issues at stake in that standoff and the issues that the U.S. believes led to that tragic midair collision. But make no mistake about it. White House officials making clear today that they will view the tone and the tenor of the Chinese delegation at tomorrow's meeting as a key test of the tone the U.S.- China relationship will take at this very delicate moment heading forward.

Now the eight-member U.S. delegation is on the ground in Beijing preparing for those takes which we're told are expected to begin early tomorrow morning Beijing time and run throughout most of the day, the U.S. side expected. Discussions here at the White House as well to help plan the strategy for that meeting.

CNN is told that the delegation enters these discussions with four main goals. Number one, make clear and present some evidence, we're told, that the U.S. believes that it is the Chinese side to blame for the collision between that fighter jet and the EP-3 surveillance plane. The two sides also hope to discuss ways to avoid such incidents in the future. The U.S., we're told, will ask tough questions about the tactics of Chinese pilots, not only in the case of this collision but also in the past as well.

And the U.S. delegation will seek permission to send a crew in to repair and retrieve the EP-3 surveillance plane. That plane, of course, still on the tarmac in Hainan Island at a Chinese military base, and as they discuss retrieving that one plane on the ground, we're told the U.S. delegation will also make clear to the Chinese side that the U.S. is prepared to resume those surveillance flights in the very near future.

No special date will be given to the Chinese for security reasons, but the U.S. delegation, we're told, will make those flights are about to resume and that Washington expects Beijing to instruct its pilots to back off a little bit. We're told the U.S. delegation will make clear it respects China's rights to send up fighter planes to intercept and monitor those flights, but that it wants China to adopt a policy that the pilots fly at a much safer distance -- Leon.

HARRIS: Well, John, are we also to -- expecting to hear the U.S. ask for an apology from China in this case? Now we know China was asking for one up until the moment that the -- those -- the crewmembers were actually returned to the U.S. Is the White House not considering that, and if not, why?

KING: The White House has been asked that questions. We've been asking Ari Fleischer and others here at the White House for days that, especially after the pilot and the crewmembers came out and made the case that they believe China was clearly to blame for this. The White House saying the president's goal right now is to look forward, that he's not interested in finger-pointing, he's not interested in assigning blame. That a key here, the president's sensitivity. He is considering a number of options.

Administration officials making clear the president believes there must be some recriminations here, that China must, in the words of one official, pay some price for this, but the president also recognizing this is a very important relationship. We're told his priority is on looking forward, that he's not interested in playing the blame game.

HARRIS: All right. Thanks, John. John King at the White House.

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