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CNN Sunday Morning

U.S.-China Standoff Continues

Aired April 08, 2001 - 09:00   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.
KYRA PHILLIPS, CNN ANCHOR: More now on our top story, the spy plane standoff with China. It's been a week since the Navy EP-3 went down on Hainan Island and the 24 American crewmembers are still being detained. While negotiations for their release continued, China's Defense Minister is taking a hard line.

More on this from Lisa Rose Weaver who joins us now by video phone from Hainan Island.

Hello again, Lisa.

LISA ROSE WEAVER, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Kyra. It has been a long day here on Hainan Island for the team of U.S. officials who are pushing for a fourth face-to-face meeting with the 24 detained air crewmembers. Earlier today, the head of that delegation, General Sealock, said that the most important thing now is learning that the crew is all right.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BRIG. GEN. NEAL SEALOCK, U.S. MILITARY ATTACHE: It was very heartening to see them in very high spirits, very good health and good condition. We discussed a variety of issues not the least of which were things that they wouldn't know like sports activities that are going on and trying to boost their morale even more.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

WEAVER: Now, General Sealock also added that the U.S. wants to push for -- to be able to meet twice a day with the detained crew and also to have what he called "uncensored access" to them. Now, he did spell out exactly what this means but in past meetings the U.S. team has first had to sit down with Chinese officials and hammer out the ground rules of then the one-on-one meetings with the detained crew. So presumably U.S. officials want to spend more of their meeting time one-on-one with the air crewmen and less with the Chinese officials.

Now all along the Chinese government has demanded an apology from the United States, which is blamed for the collision one week ago between a Chinese jet fighter and a U.S. surveillance plane. As well, Chinese authorities say they are continuing to search for Wang Wei, the Chinese pilot who went down in his F-8. State media reported that more than 800 boats have been called into service off the coast of Hainan Island to search for that pilot -- Kyra. PHILLIPS: All right. Lisa Rose Weaver live from Hainan Island. Thanks so much -- Brian.

BRIAN NELSON, CNN ANCHOR: Well, the dictionary is getting a lot of use of the State Department this weekend where diplomats are looking for exactly the right word to end the spy's plane impasse but that word will have to be somewhere between U.S. regrets over the incident and the apology that China wants.

For the latest on the diplomatic word dance that's going on here's Andrea Koppel, our State Department correspondent -- Andrea.

ANDREA KOPPEL, CNN STATE DEPARTMENT CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Brian. Well, it appears that diplomatic discussions have slowed significantly over the weekend. Yesterday -- on Sunday, I should say today, Beijing time, it's now evening in Beijing, the U.S. Ambassador to China Joseph Prueher requested a meeting with Chinese officials but was unable to get one we're told.

The meeting that did take placed were family members -- that's good news, is the one between U.S. diplomats on Hainan Island and eight of the 24 crewmembers. That of course, the U.S. had been requesting to meet with all of the crewmembers but were told that they were only going to get a selected group of both senior and lower ranking officials. They were able to give -- the U.S. diplomats were able to hand over some letters and e-mails and whatnot to families -- to some family members to the crewmembers.

But in terms of the diplomatic efforts right now, it's our understanding that things are sort of in a holding pattern right now, which is quite a bit of difference from earlier in the week, Brian, where there was sort of an intensifying diplomatic effort. One senior State Department official referred to as sort of a rolling round the clock diplomatic discussion.

Now today on Sunday, it's very quiet here at the State Department. There's no word if the Chinese Ambassador to Washington, Yang Jiechi, will be making any meetings -- any appointments here today. He wasn't here at all on Saturday. And as I've mentioned, the U.S. Ambassador to China, Admiral Joseph Prueher, was unable to get any meetings in Beijing.

NELSON: Andrea, is there some concern of the State Department that the Chinese may be holding off on any further meetings simply because they're waiting for some sign that the United States is prepared to accept the word "apology" in its statement about the event and until then, they are going to put the pressure on by reducing the number of meetings and see what happens? Is that the sense?

KOPPEL: It certainly is although the officials -- there are no officials here this morning to speak with to get their read on it. But it does certainly seem that the Chinese have sort of put them in a little bit of a deep freeze at the moment. We've heard -- Lisa referred to the statement earlier on Sunday from China's Defense Minister, Chi Haotian, who appears to be taking much more of a hard line. From the line that we had been hearing came out of the foreign ministry earlier this week in which there was actually negotiations going on that -- over the letter, the exact wording of the letter that presumably the two presidents or the two governments would exchange in which the U.S. would express regret for the loss of the Chinese fighter pilot whose body as of yet to be found and the Chinese demand for an apology. But it certainly does seem as if some members of the Chinese government and certainly the decision-making part of the Chinese government are digging in their heels at the moment.

NELSON: All right, thank you; CNN's Andrea Koppel at the State Department this morning. Thank you, Andrea.

China's diplomats are doing most of the talking about the spy plane incident but leaders of the People's Liberation Army may be writing the scripts in fact. For insight on behind the scenes power plays in China and the implications for negotiations with Washington, let's join Bruce Dickson. He is the Director of the Center For Asian Studies at George Washington University. Thank you for being with us Mr. Dickson.

BRUCE DICKSON, GEORGE WASHINGTON UNIVERSITY: Good morning.

NELSON: You've just heard that it appears that the Chinese leaders appear to be hardening their position over the -- their call for an apology from the United States. Is this troublesome to you? Is this an injection of pessimism into a week where we had an escalation of optimism that the 24 crewmembers will be released?

DICKSON: Well, all along people have been saying that this is going to be a sticking point -- that when President Jiang Zemin, China's Head of State, at the very beginning of this standoff, announced that the U.S. would have to give an apology in order for this thing to be resolved. And the U.S. is unwilling to do that.

Everyone's been trying to figure out how the U.S. could not give an apology and still have China save face as a way of getting out of this -- that the President of China's prestige -- his reputation is on the line at least with the domestic audience. And this has been a recognized sticking point from the very start.

NELSON: Is it more than just an apology though? Is there something on a much grander scale, a strategic scale going on here on -- with China's intentions?

DICKSON: Well, that's a good question. What we don't know is whether or not it's just the issue of apology or in fact, China's leaders themselves are divided between how quickly they want to resolve this and on what terms they want to resolve this.

We know there's been differences between the civilians and the Foreign Ministry for example and the military leaders and the PLA about whether or not relations between the U.S. and China are such a good thing, whether the U.S. is a friendly country or a hostile country. And so that debate may be still ongoing in Beijing at this time. NELSON: Or do you think China's taking a hard line for a couple of reasons? One to end the surveillance flights that the United States is currently conducted along its coast and two, to forgo and perhaps end all hope that the United States may be selling sophisticated radar to Taiwan. That announcement expected toward the end of this month. Are those two possible reasons for China's hard line?

DICKSON: I think they both are. And I think in both cases, they'll be disappointed. One reason the U.S. won't give an apology for this particular incident is that if the President or Secretary Powell did give an apology, it would undercut the rationale for having future surveillance flights in international waters off the coast of China.

On the issue of arms sales to Taiwan, the line that we've been hearing in Washington this week has been that people are more supportive of a more generous arms package to Taiwan. So if in fact, China thought by doing this it could ratchet up the pressure on the U.S. and stop those sales, I think it's going to backfire on them.

NELSON: So in light of what you just said, can we not begin to refer to the 24 detained men and women as hostages?

DICKSON: Well, you know, they're being kept in relatively a comfortable situation. They're in guest houses. They're getting catered food. They're being allowed to remain in their uniforms and not being put into other types of Chinese issued clothing. So they're not really hostages in the way they're -- you know, from the Iran hostage crisis for example. They're clearly being detained against their will. They can't leave.

I think the U.S. is...

NELSON: But are they not pawns in some -- in a larger game and as a result of that, hostages?

DICKSON: Well, in a sense, they are. China has a hard time wondering why we're so worried about 24 unhurt, healthy, Americans when they've lost a pilot. So China recognizes this as probably their only pawn if you will -- pawns if you will in getting the U.S. to be more forthcoming than the U.S. has been willing to be so far.

NELSON: Let me ask you to look -- and I think this may be our last question -- look down to the future. Has China, regardless of how they say it's painted itself into a diplomatic box that it'll -- they'll have repercussions in relations with this country in the future and why do you think American public opinion so far has been, I'd say, rather silent on this issue? There have been some calls for harder line. But I think by and large, the country has taken a note of tolerance. What's your view on those two subjects?

DICKSON: I think coming out of this that people will have their views reinforced. People who have been critical of Chinese behavior and U.S-China relations will be further convinced of their viewpoint and believe that we should either terminate or minimize our exchanges. People who are in favor of relations with China and believe that further exchanges are necessary to prevent these kinds of misunderstandings and mishaps in the future will come out of it convinced that we need to increase our exchanges.

I think the American public has been relatively quiet in part because of -- the plane wasn't shot down, that the crew seems to be in good health and good spirits from the reports that we're getting. There isn't a sense of imminent danger. There's a belief that the government is handling it properly. They're being very moderate and very reasonable -very patient. And so far, the American public is willing to just wait it out.

NELSON: Well, thanks very much for your insights. Bruce Dickson from George Washington University. I appreciate you're being here this morning.

DICKSON: Thank you.

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