Monday April 2 12:17 PM ET
Bush Demands Immediate Access to U.S. Plane Crew

By Randall Mikkelsen

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - President Bush on Monday demanded immediate U.S. access to the 24 crew members of a surveillance plane held by China, saying Chinese refusal so far was ''inconsistent with standard diplomatic practice.''

U.S. officials, speaking on condition of anonymity, said the last communication from the crew of the Navy plane on Sunday was that armed Chinese soldiers were boarding the aircraft.

``The first step should be immediate access by our embassy personnel to our crew members,'' Bush said in a terse appearance before reporters outside the White House Oval Office. ``I am troubled by the lack of a timely Chinese response to our request for this access.''

The surveillance plane, which Bush said was on a routine mission, made an emergency landing in China after colliding with one of two Chinese fighter jets shadowing it on Sunday in what Washington calls international airspace.

The incident threatens to further impact U.S.-Chinese relations already strained by the possible U.S. sale of sophisticated weaponry to Taiwan, which China considers a breakaway province.

``Our embassy officials are on the ground and prepared to visit the crew and aircraft as soon as the Chinese government allows them to do so, and I call on the Chinese government to grant this access promptly,'' Bush said.

He added: ``Failure for the Chinese government to react promptly to our request is inconsistent with standard diplomatic practice and with the express desire of both our countries for better relations.''

Bush spoke after meeting with his national security team, including Secretary of State Colin Powell, Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld and National Security Adviser Condoleezza Rice, on how to handle what appeared to be his biggest foreign policy challenge since taking office in January.

He said the United States has offered to provide search and rescue assistance to help the Chinese government locate its missing aircraft and pilot.

``Our military stands ready to help,'' he said.

The White House said it hoped the U.S. Navy EP-3 maritime patrol plane and its crew of 24, which made an emergency landing on China's Hainan Island on Sunday after the collision, would be quickly returned.

``Our hope is that it (the incident) will be resolved quickly, because both countries have expressed a desire for closer relations, and it's in our best interests to have good relations with China,'' White House National Security Council spokeswoman Mary Ellen Countryman told reporters.

Asked whether the incident presented a serious threat to U.S.-China relations, she said, ``I don't think I'd call it a serious threat. Right now it's not resolved. We have to wait and see how it's handled.''

U.S. officials in China had so far not succeeded in contacting the crew, which had reported a safe landing, Countryman said. She declined to comment on whether the United States considered the crew members detained against their will.

``Their plane is unable to fly, so when we get access to them, then we'll find out how we can repatriate them,'' she said.

McClellan said U.S. officials in Washington and Beijing were in touch with Chinese officials.

In China, officials from the U.S. Embassy in Beijing arrived on the island on Monday in a bid to defuse the brewing diplomatic storm.

A spokesman for the U.S. Pacific Command said Chinese officials should not enter the aircraft, which contains classified electronic eavesdropping equipment.

``The entire aircraft is considered sovereign U.S. territory, and the Chinese are not to seize, inspect or board it without U.S. permission,'' said Lt. Commander Sean Kelly. ''As far as we know, they have not boarded the plane.''

The United States will leave three warships in the South China Sea region to ``monitor the situation,'' a defense official said on Monday.

He said the ships would be ``loitering'' in the area, or moving through it more slowly than previously scheduled. The official told Reuters the action was not a show of force, but that U.S. naval forces routinely patrol the area as ``a constant signal of U.S. interest.''

The U.S. ambassador to China, Adm. Joseph Prueher, emphasized the sovereign status of the plane when he met China's vice foreign minister on Sunday, and U.S. officials planned to reiterate that message on Monday.

China issued an angry statement saying its jet had crashed after being rammed by the U.S. aircraft, and rescuers were still searching for the missing Chinese pilot.

Accident Waiting To Happen

But the head of the U.S. Pacific Command, Adm. Dennis Blair, said the crash was probably caused by the fighter bumping into the American plane and had been an accident waiting to happen because of the ``aggressive'' tactics of Chinese pilots.

The United States said Chinese fighter planes had been conducting intercepts in an unsafe manner in recent months and that this time one of them bumped into the wing of the EP-3.

Countryman said the United States considers the mishap an accident.

Blair said he could state unequivocally the U.S. aircraft was in international air space when the incident occurred.

If the damage was relatively minor, the plane could likely be repaired within a day or two, Kelly said.

The collision occurred in international air space over the South China Sea about 70 miles off Hainan Island, Blair said.

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