China warned yesterday that the dispute over the spy plane collision was far from over as the freed US crew headed home after 11 days in detention on Chinese soil.
The Chinese Premier, Mr Zhu Rongji, said China reserved the right to blame the United States for the collision between the US spy plane and a Chinese jet fighter.
Both countries appeared to be shaping up for a new row over future US surveillance off the South China Sea. The US Secretary of State, Mr Colin Powell, insisted yesterday that such surveillance would not stop, but China said it would be pressing for an end to it in its coastal waters.
"All responsibilities for the incident lie with the US side," Mr Zhu told the president of the UN General Assembly, Mr Harri Holkeri, who is visiting Beijing. It was one of the Chinese premier's first public comments on the standoff.
A Foreign Ministry spokeswoman at a press briefing echoed his words yesterday. She said that China would use discussions with the US, scheduled for next week, to press for an end to US surveillance flights near its coastal waters.
A spokeswoman, Ms Zhang Qiyue, repeated that the incident was "not over". She declined to say when, or whether, China would return the US EP3 spy plane, which China has held since it made an emergency landing on April 1st following the collision.
Asked about statements by US officials that the United States would not give up surveillance flights near China despite Beijing's insistence, the spokeswoman called on Washington not to "complicate the issue".
The crew left Hainan just before dawn yesterday and was driven in a convoy of buses under police escort through the gates of the Nanhang No 1 Guest House in Haikou, the capital of Hainan Island, where they had been held.
Chinese media yesterday declared victory for China.
The Beijing Morning Post ran the headline "America Finally Apologises".