Coming Home
Spy Plane Crew to Be Released

http://abcnews.go.com/sections/world/DailyNews/navycollision010411.html

April 11 — After a tense 11-day standoff between the U.S. and China, the crew of a U.S. spy plane detained in China is set to be released.

Chinese Foreign Minister Tang Jiaxuan today received a letter from the U.S. Ambassador to China Joseph Prueher at 5:30 p.m. local time that said the U.S. government was "very sorry"' for entering Chinese airspace without permission.
Tang said the U.S. Navy crew were being released on "humanitarian grounds."

Confirming the release in Washington today, White House spokesman Ari Fleischer said the agreement will "bring an end to the detention of the flight crew ... on Hainan island."

"The U.S. ambassador presented the Chinese government with a letter concerning this incident and has received verbal assurances that the air crew will be free to leave China shortly," Fleischer said.

He said the two countries are working out details for the release.

There was no word on the release of the EP-3 Aires II, a highly sophisticated surveillance aircraft that is currently grounded on the Lingshui air base in Hainan.

The 24 crew members are set to come home, 11 days after they were forced to land on Hainan island after colliding with a Chinese fighter jet.

A formal announcement came in simultaneous 7 a.m. ET briefings scheduled in Beijing and Hainan.

Bringing Them Home

Questions now arise about how the 21 men and three women will be lifted from Hainan. A U.S. military aircraft is currently on standby in the region, but it is not known if the Chinese would allow a military aircraft or will demand a commercial aircraft to take the U.S. Navy men and women home.

There were reports that the crew would make a stop at Hawaii on their way home where they will be examined by medical and psychiatric teams and will also be debriefed by a military intelligence team.

The news comes after a day that saw the Chinese media shift in tone, emphasizing the apologies offered over the weekend by Secretary of State Colin Powell over the loss of the Chinese pilot.

Chinese Central Television today quoted Tang as saying the crew would be released "after necessary formalities."

It was not clear what those formalities were or how long they would take.

‘Baoqian’ vs. ‘Daoqian’

The development came after an independent Hong Kong daily reported this morning that only minor semantic differences separated the two nations.

The paper said the two sides would sign a joint letter of understanding on the matter, then the crew would be released. The carefully crafted letter would leave a little wiggle room in English and Chinese for both sides.

Right now, the paper said, the two sides are arguing over the linguistic interpretation of the Chinese words for "sorry" and "apology," or "baoqian" and "daoqian," respectively.

Those differences appear to have been resolved.

The United States maintains that the collision was an accident likely caused by the faster Chinese fighter jet, which had been flying too close to the turboprop. China says a sudden maneuver by the U.S. plane caused the collision.

Echoing the new tone of its Chinese-language counterparts, the English-language Web site of the state-run People's Daily newspaper is also focusing on Powell's use of the word "sorry."

‘Stalemate’

The news comes one day after U.S. officials, at least publicly, appeared to be preparing for the crisis to drag on. On Tuesday, President Bush said a "stalemate" had been reached.

"This administration is doing everything we can to end the stalemate in an efficient way," Bush said. "Diplomacy sometimes take a little longer than people would like."

Chinese President Jiang Zemin, in Uruguay as part of a trip through Latin America, offered no break in China's position that the United States must formally apologize for the accident.

"Taking into the account the important role of the two countries, we have to find a solution," the Chinese leader said. "I trust in the ability of both countries to resolve this issue."

U.S. officials say Brazilian President Fernando Henrique Cardoso has been asked to broach the topic when he meets with Jiang today. It was not clear if he would do so.

Mayday, Mayday: Falling 5,000 Feet

On Tuesday, ABCNEWS learned that the U.S. spy plane made up to 20 mayday calls on an emergency frequency after the collision, and the aging Navy craft plunged 5,000 feet in a steep dive before its emergency landing.

Sources said the crew made between 15 and 20 mayday calls because they were not sure they were being heard. They also declared they were diverting to Lingshui airfield on China's Hainan island because it was the only field they could reach.

The sources told ABCNEWS the pilot managed an extraordinary feat of flying, stabilizing the propeller-driven aircraft from a steep dive the Navy plane was never designed to perform.

Before landing on the Lingshui airfield, the crew also radioed the U.S. military on a classified channel, warning command centers about the situation. Command centers at Pearl Harbor in Hawaii and the Pentagon in Washington were immediately "up" and "listening," sources said.

They were monitored by U.S. intelligence all the way in.

ABCNEWS' Barbara Starr, Terry Moran, Phuong Nguyen and Martha Raddatz in Washington and David Wright in Haikou contributed to this report.