Chinese Leaders Pay Tribute to Pilot Lost After Collision

President Jiang Zemin kissed the young son and clasped the hands of the widow of a fighter pilot missing and presumed dead after a collision with a U.S. spy plane, as Chinese leaders Friday paid respects to a man they consider a hero.

The tribute to Lt. Cmdr. Wang Wei came as a team of U.S. officials left Beijing after two days of inconclusive talks on the return of the Navy EP-3 reconnaissance plane and China’s demand for an end to American surveillance flights off its coast.

The official Chinese Central Television showed footage of Jiang, dressed in an olive-green Mao suit, with Wang’s widow, parents and 6-year-old son in a brief ceremony at the Great Hall of the People on Tiananmen Square.

“The people will always remember him,” Jiang was quoted as saying. “We have 1.2 billion people, but the life of every Chinese person is precious.”

After Jiang, China’s No. 2 leader, Li Peng, along with Premier Zhu Rongji and the nation’s top military leader, Gen. Zhang Wannian, honored the lost pilot. Several dozen military officers in dress uniform and politicians in somber-colored suits sat or stood as Jiang praised the flier’s sacrifice.

Wang disappeared when his F-8 fighter crashed into the South China Sea on April 1 after colliding with the U.S. plane. China called off a 13-day search last week, declaring Wang a “revolutionary martyr” and “guardian of the air and sea.”

Talks between U.S. and Chinese negotiators began Wednesday in Beijing and ended Thursday with an agreement to meet again.