-Caveat Lector- WJPBR Email News List [EMAIL PROTECTED] Peace at any cost is a Prelude to War! Monday April 16 3:01 PM ET U.S. Signals Tough Stance at China Meeting By Steve Holland WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The United States on Monday signaled a tough stance going into a meeting with China on their dispute over a downed spy plane, insisting that U.S. surveillance flights will be resumed soon. Officials from the two sides are scheduled to meet on Wednesday in Beijing to discuss the flights. A mid-air collision between a Chinese fighter shadowing a U.S. EP-3 spy plane triggered an 11-day standoff between the two countries. White House spokesman Ari Fleischer (news - web sites) said the U.S. side will make clear it feels the Chinese pilot caused the April 1 accident by flying too close to the U.S. plane. Fleischer told reporters the U.S. team would ``ask tough questions'' to the Chinese about the manner in which they ''dangerously intercepted'' the U.S. surveillance plane. He said: ``The agenda as far as the United States is concerned is to provide a clear and graphic explanation of the U.S. view of the cause of the accident, and discuss ways of avoiding similar accidents in the future.'' They will also ask for the return of the damaged EP-3 plane. Fleischer insisted the flights will resume but the timing was unclear. Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld will make a recommendation to President Bush (news - web sites), who will then make the final decision. ``They could resume at any time, whenever the president makes the determination,'' Fleischer told reporters. A defense official said the flights are likely to resume shortly but that Rumsfeld had as yet made a recommendation to Bush. ``It seems prudent to wait for the talks'' to decide how and when to proceed, the official said. The EP-3 planes typically fly about 50 miles off the Chinese coast in international airspace. The Chinese government says the flights come too close. The State Department said the outcome of the meeting could well set the tone for U.S.-Chinese relations. ``We have made quite clear that we think a productive meeting can set the basis for a further relationship and on the other hand a polemical meeting would give us some indication of how they might or might not intend to proceed with the relationship,'' said State Department spokesman Richard Boucher. He said the meeting might last two days. FIGHTER ESCORTS FOR SPY PLANES? Under discussion within the administration has been whether to have U.S. fighter jets escort the EP-3 flights to chase off intercepting Chinese jets, a potentially provocative step. One possible source of U.S. fighter jets for that purpose is the U.S. aircraft carrier Kitty Hawk, which is based in Yokosuka, Japan, but U.S. defense officials said there were no plans to involve the carrier. They said it was sailing away from China on Monday to take part in exercises near Guam and that there were no plans to move it where it could launch fighter jets to protect reconnaissance flights off China's coast. The officials, who asked not to be identified, were responding to a Washington Post report quoting Navy officials as saying the Kitty Hawk was sailing in the direction of the South China Sea off China. A senior defense official, who asked not to be identified, told Reuters the delegation would essentially discuss three issues with the Chinese: Who was responsible for the accident; possible ways to prevent such incidents in the future, and China's plan to formally demand that the flights be stopped. Adding to U.S. concern before the talks have been dramatic accounts by members of the 21 men and three women who were aboard the EP-3 plane, including the pilot, Lt. Shane Osborne, who say the Chinese jet flew so close it clipped a propeller. The Chinese jet fell in pieces while the badly damaged American plane survived a harrowing 8,000-foot (about 2,500 meters) drop and managed to land without permission on China's Hainan Island. The crew was held there for 11 days until the United States said it was ``very sorry'' for the loss of the Chinese pilot and for having to make an unscheduled landing on Chinese territory. ``Once the aircraft started going out of control, I think pretty much everybody on the aircraft thought they were going to die at some point,'' said crew member Lt. Patrick Honeck on Sunday on CBS' ``Face the Nation.'' The U.S. delegation to the talks will be headed by Acting Undersecretary of Defense for Policy Pete Virga and will include both Pentagon (news - web sites) and State Department officials. *COPYRIGHT NOTICE** In accordance with Title 17 U. S. C. 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