Payout for EP-3 Care Is Rejected

China has rejected an offer by the United States to pay $34,576 in support costs for a crippled Navy spy plane as unacceptable after Beijing demanded $1 million, the official New China News Agency reported Saturday.

“The so-called decision is unacceptable to China both in its content and form,” Zhang Qiyue, a spokeswoman for China’s Foreign Ministry, was quoted by the news agency as saying.

U.S. officials said Thursday that Washington had sent what it deemed an appropriate amount of money for costs incurred after the EP-3 spy plane collided with a Chinese fighter and made an emergency landing on the southern island of Hainan on April 1.

China held the 24-member EP-3 crew for 11 days after the collision in a standoff that strained Sino-U.S. relations in the first months of the Bush administration.

The last parts of the plane were dismantled and flown back to the United States on July 3.

China expressed the “utmost dissatisfaction” to the United States over the low payment and rejected the offer, the news agency said.

“We urge the U.S. side to correct its erroneous decision and take into consideration the reasonable request of the Chinese side for an appropriate settlement of the payment issue,” Zhang said.

Defense Department spokesman Rear Adm. Craig Quigley said last week that the Chinese demand for about $1 million for everything from food for the crew members to support services for the plane was unrealistic.

“There was a particular dollar figure attached to each element of what the Chinese had given to us that they felt was appropriate,” he said. “We did not agree with each of those categories nor their dollar figures. So we took an independent look at that.

“And where we felt that there was a fair value provided by the Chinese, we tried to provide a fair dollar value to that service. And that is what the total represents,” he said.