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American Morning

Final Dismantled Loads of Spy Plane Detained in China Headed Home

Aired July 03, 2001 - 11:40   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.
BRIAN NELSON, CNN ANCHOR: The Pentagon says the last three plane loads of a dismantled spy plane have left China and are now headed to the United States. The plane parts are being taken to Dobbins Air Force Base, just north of Atlanta, here in Georgia. The return of the disassembled aircraft will end an episode that stained relations between Washington and Beijing. The plane made an emergency landing on China's Hainan Island three months ago, after it collided with a Chinese fighter jet. The crewmembers were detained for 11 days.

CNN's Lisa Rose Weaver has followed the story from the very start. She joins us now by phone from Beijing with the latest -- Lisa Rose.

LISA ROSE WEAVER, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yes, Brian, the work, in terms of getting the EP-3 out of China, really went faster than expected. The U.S. Pacific Command tells us it's faster than a week before they really expected to be able to get out.

Now, more than six hours ago, the last flight of a Russian-built cargo plane left Hainan Island, carrying the entire EP-3, as well as some of the equipment used to disassemble it. There were, Brian, a total of nine flights over the course of the disassembly period. That took about three weeks, and a lot of those flights were taking equipment away to Hainan and then away from Hainan, which was used to disassemble the aircraft.

The U.S. Pacific Command in Hawaii told us earlier that Chinese officials were really very helpful in all of this, in facilitating what turns out to have been an ahead-of-schedule departure.

Now, Brian, Lockheed-Martin, the manufacturer of the EP-3, has committed to paying for this about $5.5 million dollars in commercial fees, this money spent for expenses like sanitation, electricity, transport, and some of the equipment provided by the Chinese that was used in the course of disassembling the plane in Hainan. The EP-3 recovery team of technicians from Lockheed-Martin are due to fly out of Hainan tomorrow on their own company aircraft.

Now, the Chinese government has publicly, anyway, been very eager to put the tension on the spy plane collision behind. China's Foreign Ministry lately has been talking more about a recent phone call between China's foreign minister, Tang Jiaxuan, and the U.S. Secretary of State Colin Powell, hoping again that U.S.-China relations can recover from this.

Of course, there are issues that remain between the two countries. There's China's human rights record, the continued detention of some U.S.-based scholars in China, Chinese scholars with connections to the United States, that is. As well as arm sales to Taiwan.

But getting the U.S. spy plane out of China clears the way for some important contact ahead. Among those, Secretary of State Colin Powell is due to visit China at the end of July, and then President Bush is scheduled to be here in October, during APEC's meeting -- Brian.

NELSON: Lisa, let's not forget that shortly after that plane landed, the Chinese poured all over the plane, looking for some of the sensitive spy equipment that was on board, whatever remained. How much of that has remained in China? Is there any way of knowing?

WEAVER: Not really, Brian. The Chinese government has been very, very quiet on what it might have learned from the equipment, and if you recall, initially, in the few days after the collision between the Chinese fighter jet and the EP-3, the then-U.S. ambassador to China said that the Chinese had "been all over" the plane, but as the impasse towards resolving the impasse sort of boiled on, both sides became very quiet about what they thought -- the U.S. side became very quiet of what it thought the Chinese had learned of going over the equipment. Presumably, they did, because there was quite a lot of time for them to do it -- Brian.

NELSON: Let's just finally wrap this up: That plane, I presume, is in the air. When does it resume here in Dobbins Air Force Base, in Georgia, and who will greet it?

WEAVER: Yes, according to the U.S. Pacific Command, it's due to arrive in Dobbins in the early morning hours, somewhere from 2:00 and 5:00 a.m. Eastern time, that after it has to refuel, in Manila. Then it goes to Hawaii, for more refueling and rest, and then straight onto Georgia -- Brian.

NELSON: Thank you, Lisa Rose Weaver, reporting to us from Beijing.

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