Washington – It’s catastrophic for the U.S. if the Chinese have managed to gain access to the aircraft. So far, Beijing refused President Bush’s demand for “immediate access” to the 24 Americans and their high-tech spy plane. A White House spokesman said China had told the U.S. ambassador that U.S. diplomats would not be allowed to meet with the crew until Tuesday night China time, which is Tuesday morning in the United States.
U.S. officials said the last communication from the crew — 22 Navy personnel, an Air Force officer and a Marine — was that armed Chinese soldiers were boarding the plane, which made an emergency landing early Sunday after colliding with a Chinese fighter jet, whose pilot China said was still missing.
Bush, who said he was “troubled by the lack of a timely Chinese response to our request,” did not say what the United States might do if the crew, being held at a guesthouse on China’s Hainan Island, were not released soon.
As for the plane, an unarmed Navy EP-3 bristling with electronics for listening in on radio signals and monitoring radar sites, Bush demanded that it be returned “without further damaging or tampering.”
The Associated Press reported that the plane stood empty at the military airfield where it landed in the town of Lingshui, quoting a Chinese sailor who refused to give his name when contacted by telephone at an adjacent naval facility.
Apparently Chinese troops boarded the Navy aircraft to take the crew members off the plane. It was not known whether force was used.
The commander of U.S. Pacific Military Forces, Adm. Dennis Blair, said on NBC’s “Today” show that the crew would have taken steps to disable or destroy any sensitive equipment and data had they been forced from the plane.
But according to some military analysts the Chinese could still get valuable information from the aircraft, adding that boarding the plane would be “a violation of U.S. sovereignty because the plane is U.S. territory, like an embassy.”
