Keep the Focus on Spy Plane Crew

A meeting Tuesday between U.S. diplomats and the crew of an American spy plane forced to land on a Chinese island is a good first step toward gaining the release of all 24 crew members. The focus should stay on the crew, since any secrets remaining aboard the plane are by now thoroughly blown.

Secretary of State Colin L. Powell is rightly setting a measured and low-key tone in dealing with China, while Beijing is making some histrionic hay of the incident. The midair collision Sunday that downed a Chinese fighter jet and caused the damaged U.S. reconnaissance airplane to make an emergency landing tests the already strained relations between Washington and Beijing. But it also presents an opportunity for both sides to build some trust.

So far, the Chinese leadership has showed little of the “friendly relations and cooperation” that President Jiang Zemin called for earlier this year. Beijing accused the U.S. pilot of deliberately bumping the Chinese jet and demanded apologies and compensation. It dismissed, not surprisingly, the U.S. request to stay away from the reconnaissance plane after it landed. Inexcusably, Beijing also delayed nearly three days before allowing U.S. diplomats to visit the detained crew.

President Bush, in contrast to the get-tough-on-China stand he took as a presidential candidate, reacted to the incident with restraint. While he did not express regret for the apparent loss of the Chinese pilot--which he should consider in lieu of an apology--he offered U.S. help in the search. He did not blame the Chinese for the incident, even though U.S. officials have long complained to Beijing about “aggressive” Chinese tactics in response to U.S. intelligence-gathering off China’s coast--something that China no doubt regards as equally aggressive. Monday, Bush demanded the prompt and safe return of the crew and the plane, and Tuesday he ratcheted up the urgency, saying, “It is time for our servicemen and women to return home. It is time for the Chinese government to return our plane.”

Bush also made it clear that Beijing’s handling of the downed plane may well affect U.S. relations with China. That may be evident, but it should not serve as an invitation for Beijing to link the resolution of this incident to the other outstanding U.S.-China issues--including Taiwan’s request for advanced radar and missile defenses. The focus of U.S. diplomatic effort should remain on prompt release of the crew and, later, on setting rules to prevent similar incidents in the future.

China is hungry for international recognition, spending a great deal of effort in bids to host the 2008 Summer Olympics and join the World Trade Organization. It is greatly in Beijing’s interest to defuse the tension with Washington.