Bush, Jiang Exchange Draft of Letter of Joint Regret

The crew of a U.S. spy plane held in China is in “high spirits” and healthy, U.S. officials said Friday, amid reports that a letter was being drafted by both governments that could provide a face-saving end to the weeklong diplomatic standoff over a midair collision.

The draft letter, which has been exchanged between President Bush and Chinese President Jiang Zemin, would open the way for release of the crew by acknowledging joint regret over the collision and setting up a process that would allow the nations to jointly investigate the accident, according to a key U.S. senator.

Adm. Joseph W. Prueher, the U.S. ambassador to China, met today with Chinese Foreign Ministry officials in Beijing, perhaps delivering new proposals from U.S. Secretary of State Colin L. Powell.

On Friday, as the 24 crew members of the grounded Navy EP-3 reconnaissance plane held their second meeting with U.S. diplomats, Bush told a group of business executives that officials were “working hard to bring them home with intensive negotiations. And we think we’re making progress.”

The EP-3 collided with a Chinese F-8 fighter jet during a surveillance flight Sunday morning, forcing the U.S. plane to make an emergency landing in southern China and provoking a standoff with the Communist regime over the release of the crew and its top-secret aircraft. The Chinese plane crashed and its pilot is missing.

The draft letter has advanced through the ambassador and foreign minister levels of the two governments. Once it is finalized, it will be reviewed “both by our president and the president of China, so it will reflect a common understanding,” Sen. John W. Warner (R-Va.), chairman of the Senate Armed Services Committee, told reporters after a classified briefing.

The document would “contain exchanges of views” on how the collision occurred, he said. And although the letter would express regret, “the question of an apology is not to be incorporated in any way in the letter,” he said.

The most likely forum for the accident investigation is a joint U.S.-Chinese maritime commission established three years ago to enhance safety on the seas, administration officials said.

Such an approach would allow the Chinese to publicly air their position that the U.S. surveillance flights, which have been increasing in frequency since last fall, violate their sovereignty. U.S. officials assert that the flights are in international airspace and comply with international norms.

The crew of the EP-3 is being housed in officers’ quarters at a naval base on China’s Hainan island, officials said, and is being fed catered food from off the base. In another sign of progress, Chinese authorities permitted the 21 men and three women of the crew to meet privately for the first time with U.S. representatives, and have consented to a third meeting today, U.S. officials said.

Powell said the crew members were “in good shape. They are in high spirits. Their morale is good.”

Chinese authorities, who insist that the collision was caused by the Navy spy plane, have demanded an apology and the right to investigate the incident. The Chinese fighter pilot, Lt. Cmdr. Wang Wei, bailed out of his damaged aircraft Sunday over the South China Sea and is presumed dead.

Powell said that the two nations are exchanging “rather precise ideas” for settling the dispute and that he had written a letter to Chinese Vice Premier Qian Qichen.

“I’m encouraged because there has been movement,” Powell said.

Prueher met Friday in Beijing with Assistant Foreign Minister Zhou Wenzhong. Later in the day, the Chinese ambassador to the United States, Yang Jiechi, met with Deputy Secretary of State Richard L. Armitage at the State Department. Officials said China requested the meeting.

State Department spokesman Richard Boucher described the Washington meeting simply as “part of our continuing diplomatic exchanges.” He said he expected the dialogue to continue in both capitals into the weekend.

After the meeting, a senior State Department official cautioned against raising public expectations of an imminent release. “There’s still work to be done,” he said.

And efforts could unravel quickly, U.S. officials said.

After the hourlong meeting Friday with members of the crew, Brig. Gen. Neal Sealock, the U.S. defense attache to Beijing, said they were in “great spirits [and] . . . looking forward to getting released from their current situation and returning home.”

Sealock later briefed Bush in a phone call, telling the president that it would “make you feel real proud. They look real good.”

“We are proud of these young men and women who are upholding the high standards of our armed forces,” Bush said. “We know this is a difficult time for their families, and I thank them for their patriotism and their patience.”

Boucher said the U.S. “would like as much access [to the crew] as we can have. We would like unfettered access. There were a few fetters today.”

He said there was “no indication of any kind of mistreatment.”

Chinese state media reported in sporadic fashion Bush’s statement of regret over the likely death of Wang. The Beijing Evening Post showed a small photo of Bush with his head bowed.

China’s president continued to insist that the U.S. must apologize for the collision.

In Chile during a stop on a South American tour, Jiang said his country is exasperated by American surveillance flights off its coast.

“American planes come to the edge of our country and they don’t say ‘Excuse me,’ ” Jiang said. “This sort of conduct is not acceptable in any country.”

In another development Friday, more U.S. lawmakers canceled trips to China next week, despite the reported progress.

A 22-member congressional delegation, led by Rep. David Dreier (R-San Dimas), agreed during a conference call to drop its planned visit to China, deciding that the timing made it inappropriate.

Two senators and a House member also have scrubbed plans to lead separate delegations to China during the two-week congressional recess that began Friday, and another delegation was delaying a final decision.

“As U.S. and Chinese diplomats work to resolve this situation, the type of exchange envisioned in this mission would not have been possible,” said Sen. Olympia J. Snowe (R-Maine), one of those who had been scheduled to make the trip.

Republican Sens. Don Nickles of Oklahoma and Richard C. Shelby of Alabama also canceled plans to lead delegations to China.

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EP-3’s Eavesdropping Range

The detection range of the EP-3 reconnaissance plane is approximately 200 to 460 miles. The shaded area indicates the plane’s detection range if it had been flying along China’s coastline.

A Sense of Scale

If the EP-3 flew along the coast of California, its 200-mile eavesdropping range would allow it to detect electronic emissions into Nevada.

What the spy plane looks for:

At sea

Radar emissions from a ship can reveal its type, speed, location, direction and size. On land

Electronic emissions from military sites can reveal radar positions; the plane can also tap into private communications.

In the air

Electronic emissions from a plane can reveal location, direction, speed and type.

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Sources: ESRI; “Jane’s Electronic Mission Aircraft”; GlobalSecurity.org; Federation of American Scientists; U.S. Navy.

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Compiled from AP wire reports.

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Richter reported from Washington and Chu from Beijing. Times staff writers Edwin Chen, Norman Kempster and Robin Wright in Washington contributed to this report.