A deal has finally been agreed between China and the US on the return of the crippled US spy plane stranded on Hainan Island since April 1st.
Under the agreement, the US Navy EP-3 reconnaissance plane will be flown from Lingshui airfield in pieces aboard a giant Russian-designed Antonov-124 cargo plane.
A Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman confirmed yesterday an agreement in principle had been reached to take home the EP-3. But he made it clear that despite the breakthrough, the dispute was not over.
The spokesman declined to say exactly when the $80 million aircraft would be ready to leave China. He said Washington had to take a "realistic and positive" attitude to get the aircraft back early.
He repeated Beijing's demand for an end to US surveillance flights off its coast. "When this can be resolved depends on both sides," he told a news conference. "The US side should adopt a realistic and positive attitude. This will help to achieve an early settlement of this problem."
China has held the US aircraft, packed with sophisticated surveillance equipment, since it made an emergency landing on Hainan after a collision with a Chinese fighter while on a spying mission off the South China coast. The crew of the aircraft was detained for 11 days after the collision in which the pilot of the Chinese fighter was killed.
While a team of US aircraft technicians said that earlier this month the EP-3 could be repaired sufficiently to be flown out of Hainan, Beijing made it clear it would not allow the aircraft to be flown victoriously from the island by the US.
Chinese technicians closely examined the aircraft after the 24-member US crew failed to destroy all equipment before they landed the plane after the collision.
Meanwhile, China has refused permission for a US warship to visit Hong Kong, the first such denial since the mid-air collision on April 1st. The US consulate confirmed yesterday that China informed it on May 15th that it had denied a request for the USS Inchon to visit Hong Kong from June 28th to July 3rd. No reason was given for China's refusal.
It was the first request by the US military for a ship to dock in Hong Kong since the spy plane incident, but not the first time China has refused permission. It barred visits by US navy ships to Hong Kong for three months after US warplanes bombed the Chinese embassy in Belgrade in May 1999, killing three people.
The Inchon, a minesweeper, had wanted to make a routine stop in the former British colony.