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CNN Saturday Morning News

U.S. Blames Chinese Pilot for Collision

Aired April 14, 2001 - 07:07   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.
MILES O'BRIEN, CNN ANCHOR: Beijing still contends the lumbering prop-driven spy plane veered into its fighter jet, killing its pilot. China has just announced it is calling off the search for the missing pilot. China ended the search right after the Pentagon said it wants to set the record straight about the collision.

Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld had some dramatic videotape to try and back that up. Here is military affairs correspondent Jamie McIntyre.

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UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yes, we got a V-ID on them.

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JAMIE MCINTYRE, CNN MILITARY AFFAIRS CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): In the videotape taken by a U.S. crew January 24, a Chinese pilot, identified by sources as Wang Wei, the same pilot who died in the collision, is seen cutting so close in front of the EP-3 surveillance aircraft, his jet wash creates turbulence that rocks the slow-moving prop plane.

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UNIDENTIFIED MALE: How far are we?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: One's right there at...

(CROSSTALK)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Whoa, whoa -- he's going right in front of us. Same altitude, all right. Whoa, we got prop.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Felt that one.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We got prop.

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MCINTYRE: U.S. Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld used the tape in a show-and-tell to document what he called the kind of dangerous flying that prompted a formal complaint to China last December.

DONALD RUMSFELD, U.S. SECRETARY OF DEFENSE: Look at the plane's mushy behavior. You can see he's flying at a very slow speed for a fighter aircraft.

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UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Oh, he got himself -- this guy's having a little bit of problems. He's squirrely, not real steady. He's having a hard time maintaining this air speed. He's got his flaps down a little bit.

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RUMSFELD: Those planes are not designed to fly at 250 knots.

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UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Oh, yeah, he's having problems.

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MCINTYRE: Rumsfeld insisted the U.S. plane was doing nothing wrong, flying straight and level on autopilot and never turned, as the Chinese claimed.

RUMSFELD: For 12 days, one side of the story has been presented. It seemed to me that with the crew safely back in the United States that it was time to set out factually what actually took place.

MCINTYRE: Contrary to initial reports, Rumsfeld said the crew destroyed only a major portion, not all, of the EP-3's secrets, which may account for why the Chinese haven't given the plane back.

RUMSFELD: Well, I -- there's no question in my mind but that one of the things holding it up is they're accessing that aircraft to see what they can learn.

MCINTYRE (on camera): And that's the biggest reason the U.S. wants its plane back. While it may never fly again, it could help U.S. intelligence experts figure out exactly what secrets were lost to China.

Jamie McIntyre, CNN, the Pentagon.

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