-Caveat Lector- WJPBR Email News List [EMAIL PROTECTED] Peace at any cost is a Prelude to War! Thursday May 24 12:59 PM ET China Says U.S. Will Take Out Spy Plane in Pieces By Jeremy Page BEIJING (Reuters) - China signaled an end to a bitter wrangle over a U.S. spy plane held on Hainan Island by announcing on Thursday it had accepted a U.S proposal to dismantle the aircraft and send it home in pieces. A Foreign Ministry spokesman repeated China's rejection of U.S. demands to fly out the top-secret EP-3 surveillance plane, which made an emergency landing on Hainan after a collision with a Chinese jet fighter over the South China Sea on April 1. ``The United States has submitted a proposal to take apart the plane and take it back to the U.S.,'' Zhu Bangzao told a news conference. ``The Chinese side has agreed to that,'' he said. U.S. officials in Washington said they were still discussing with Beijing how to return the plane. ``We're still talking with them on modalities for moving the plane and nothing is set or definitive,'' a senior State Department official said, speaking on condition of anonymity. The official said returning the plane in pieces was only one of the options being discussed, adding, ``As the Chinese pointed out, we are continuing to discuss technical details.'' Another official said: ``We're not yet ready to speculate about how this is going to be resolved.'' Beijing has said allowing the $80 million plane to fly out would be a national humiliation. By forcing the United States to laboriously crate up the plane for a long and expensive journey home, China is seeking to humble the U.S. military and appease a fiercely nationalistic public outraged by the collision, in which the pilot of the Chinese fighter jet was killed. PLANE ALREADY SCOURED FOR SECRETS Chinese technicians have already scoured the aircraft for secrets that the 24-member U.S. crew failed to destroy during the hair-raising minutes before they landed the plane with a mangled propeller and nose cone ripped off. China detained the crew for 11 tense days and only freed them after Washington said it was ``very sorry'' that the Chinese pilot died and that the U.S. plane landed without authorization. Zhu made clear there were still obstacles to be overcome. ``The two sides will continue to negotiate on the technical details of returning the plane,'' Zhu said. ``We do not agree to flying the plane out of China. This is impossible.'' A team of five civilian technicians from Lockheed Martin Corp, maker of the EP-3, inspected it earlier this month and said it could be repaired sufficiently to be flown off Hainan. But U.S. Vice-President Dick Cheney (news - web sites) said on Sunday the plane was too badly damaged and probably would have to be shipped out in crates. Last week, British-based Antonov Airlines said it was in talks with the U.S. government to charter a giant Antonov cargo plane to airlift the grounded EP-3 from Hainan to Okinawa, Japan. Another option would be to put the pieces on a barge and float them home. The long delay in returning the plane has angered U.S. politicians and the episode has threatened to spill over into areas of trade and Beijing's bid to host the 2008 Olympics. THORNY ISSUES The stand-off over the plane is just one of several thorny issues to beset Sino-U.S. relations. Beijing has been infuriated by a major U.S. arms package for Taiwan, a stopover visit to the United States by Taiwan President Chen Shui-bian and a visit to the White House by Tibet's exiled spiritual leader, the Dalai Lama, for a meeting with Bush. Zhu also attacked the United States for allowing those visits and accused Washington of trying to encourage independence forces in Taiwan and Tibet, both of which Beijing regards as sovereign territory. On Tuesday, a senior White House official said China-U.S relations were ``stable.'' James Kelly, assistant secretary of state for East Asia and the Pacific, said it was unlikely the plane would be returned by the time the U.S. House of Representatives votes on normal trade relations with China this summer. Kelly said he was still optimistic the House would vote to maintain normal trade relations. But the delay in returning the plane ``does not help the process at all,'' he said. Bush has to notify Congress formally by June 3 of his intention to extend normal trade relations to China for another year. Critics of China in the House are already planning to challenge that decision. *COPYRIGHT NOTICE** In accordance with Title 17 U. S. C. Section 107, any copyrighted work in this message is distributed under fair use without profit or payment to those who have expressed a prior interest in receiving the included information for nonprofit research and educational purposes only.[Ref. http://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/17/107.shtml ] Want to be on our lists? Write at [EMAIL PROTECTED] for a menu of our lists! <A HREF="http://www.ctrl.org/";>www.ctrl.org</A> DECLARATION & DISCLAIMER ========== CTRL is a discussion & informational exchange list. Proselytizing propagandic screeds are unwelcomed. Substance—not soap-boxing—please! These are sordid matters and 'conspiracy theory'—with its many half-truths, mis- directions and outright frauds—is used politically by different groups with major and minor effects spread throughout the spectrum of time and thought. That being said, CTRLgives no endorsement to the validity of posts, and always suggests to readers; be wary of what you read. CTRL gives no credence to Holocaust denial and nazi's need not apply. Let us please be civil and as always, Caveat Lector. ======================================================================== Archives Available at: http://peach.ease.lsoft.com/archives/ctrl.html <A HREF="http://peach.ease.lsoft.com/archives/ctrl.html";>Archives of [EMAIL PROTECTED]</A> http:[EMAIL PROTECTED]/ <A HREF="http:[EMAIL PROTECTED]/";>ctrl</A> ======================================================================== To subscribe to Conspiracy Theory Research List[CTRL] send email: SUBSCRIBE CTRL [to:] [EMAIL PROTECTED] To UNsubscribe to Conspiracy Theory Research List[CTRL] send email: SIGNOFF CTRL [to:] [EMAIL PROTECTED] Om
