HONG KONG – (AFP) A Chinese fighter pilot requested permission to shoot down a U.S. spy plane after seeing it collide with his comrade’s jet, a Hong Kong newspaper said Monday.
Pilot Zhao Yu was refused permission and instead maneuvered to force the American plane, which was attempting to fly away from China, to land at an airbase, the South China Morning Post quoted Chinese sources as saying.
The 24 crew members of the U.S. crew and their EP-3 Aries surveillance plane have been detained in the southern province of Hainan for more than a week.
The sources also told the English language paper that when the American plane landed at the Lingshui airbase, a Chinese officer wrestled a U.S. airman to the ground to gain access to the craft.
Zhao told Chinese television on Friday that he and fellow pilot Wang Wei had been tracking the spy plane closely in their fighter jets when the larger aircraft veered abruptly, smashing into Wang’s plane.
Wang parachuted from his stricken jet, but has been missing, presumed dead, since the collision eight days ago.
The Post’s source said, however, that after the collision, in international air space, Zhao radioed to military ground control for permission to shoot down the spy plane, which was refused.
“The officials at ground control were cool headed,” one source told the paper.
“It would have been an act of war, whereas the collision was an accident.”
After the collision the U.S. plane attempted to fly northeast, away from China, the sources said, but Zhao forced it to land in Hainan.
When the American plane landed, its crew refused to allow the Chinese onto the craft without U.S. diplomats present, the sources added.
“Then a senior officer arrived, walked up the stairs and wrestled a U.S. crew member guarding the entrance. The officer threw the airman to the ground, enabling the PLA (People’s Liberation Army) to enter,” the paper reported.
