FM Spokesman Gives Full Account of Air Collision Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Zhu Bangzao Tuesday night gave a full account of the recent mid-air collision between US and Chinese military planes, and stated China's stance on the incident. Speaking to the media, Zhu said the US surveillance plane rammed and damaged a Chinese jet fighter, labeling the incident an encroachment upon Chinese sovereignty and airspace. On the morning of April 1, a US EP-3 electronic reconnaissance plane flew southeast of China's Hainan Island, he said. At 8:36 Beijing time, the US plane approached the airspace over China's territorial waters off the city of Sanya to conduct surveillance. A unit of the Chinese Navy sent two F-8 fighters to follow and monitor the US plane, Zhu said. Missing Spot of Chinese Pilot Near Hainan At 9:07, the Chinese planes made a normal flight in an area 104 kilometers from the baseline of Chinese territorial waters. The course of the Chinese planes was at 110 degrees, and the US plane was flying parallel with the right side of the Chinese planes in the same direction. The US plane suddenly veered at a wide angle towards the Chinese planes, which were closer to baseline of the Chinese side. The US plane's nose and left wing rammed the tail of one of the Chinese planes, causing it to lose control and plunge into the sea, Zhu said. The pilot Wang Wei made parachuted from his stricken plane, while the other Chinese plane returned safely and landed at 9:23, he said. The US plane entered Chinese airspace without approval, and landed at Lingshui Airport in Hainan at 9:33. The Chinese side made proper arrangements for the 24 crew members aboard, in a spirit of humanitarianism. After the incident, relevant Chinese departments immediately sent search-and-rescue planes and ships to look for pilot Wang Wei. Chinese President Jiang Zemin, deeply concerned about Wang's safety, gave repeated instructions to search for and rescue him at any cost, Zhu said. Up till 14:00 hours April 3, a total 37 planes and 29 boats had been sent to collision area. The search and rescue mission is continuing, Zhu said. It should be pointed out that it was proper and in accordance with international law for Chinese military fighters to follow and monitor the US military surveillance plane within airspace over China's exclusive economic waters, Zhu said. By veering and ramming the Chinese jet at a wide angle, against flight rules, the US surveillance caused the crash of the Chinese jet, he pointed out. The surveillance flight conducted by the US aircraft overran the scope of "free over-flight" according to international law, he said. The move also violated the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea, which stipulates that any flight in airspace above another nation's exclusive economic zone should respect the rights of the country concerned, he said. Thus, the US plane's actions posed a serious threat to the national security of China, he said. Meanwhile, such an action was also against the consensus reached by the two countries in May last year on avoiding risky military actions in sea areas. According to the consensus, when military airborne vehicles encounter each other in international airspace, both sides should properly observe the current international law and practices, and take into consideration the flight safety of the other side so as to avoid dangerous approaches and possible collisions, Zhu said. He also pointed out that after the incident the US surveillance plane intrude China's airspace and landed at a Chinese airport without permission from the Chinese side. He labeled this move "a further violation of the regulations set forth by international and Chinese law, and thus constituting a gross encroachment upon China's sovereignty and territorial airspace," he added. The Chinese Foreign Ministry lodged a solemn representation and protest to the US government on April 1 concerning the US plane's act of clashing into the Chinese warplane and infringing upon China's sovereignty and airspace, he said. The Foreign Ministry has pointed out that the US should bear full responsibility for the incident, and demanded that the US government make an explanation to the Chinese government and people on the US plane's actions, Zhu said. China also demanded that the US take effective measures to prevent such an incident from recurring, Zhu added. The Chinese Foreign Ministry lodged a solemn representation once again on April 2. In response to statements from the U.S. side in recent days, Zhu stressed the following points: * First, the US military surveillance plane violated the principle of "free overflight," because the incident incurred by the US plane happened in airspace near China's coastal area and China's exclusive economic waters, he noted. According to the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea and general international law, all countries enjoy the freedom of overflight in the exclusive economic waters of a nation, he said. However, the Convention and general international law stipulate at the same time that the rights of the coastal country should be considered, he added. The US surveillance plane's reconnaissance acts were targeted at China in the airspace over China's coastal area and its flight was far beyond the scope of "overflight", and thus abused the principle of overflight freedom, the spokesman stressed. The US plane's action also posed a serious threat to China's security interests, so that it was right for the Chinese military planes to monitor the US spy plane for the sake of China's state security, he said. The US plane, in violation of flight rules, caused the crash, so the US side should bear full responsibility for the incident, he noted. * Second, it was illegal for the US military surveillance plane to enter China's territorial space and to land at a Chinese airport without China's approval, and so the US plane's action constituted an infringement upon China's sovereignty and territorial space, Zhu said. According to international law and relevant Chinese laws, China enjoys sovereignty over its territorial space, he stated. According to the 12th article of the Law on China's Territorial Waters and Their Contiguous Areas, foreign aircraft may enter the airspace over China's territorial waters only in accordance with agreements or regulations signed between the government of the People's Republic of China (PRC) and the governments of foreign countries. Otherwise, such entry should be approved or accepted by the government of the PRC or its authorized organizations, said Zhu. The 3rd article of the Convention on International Civil Aviation adopted in 1944 clearly states that the military aircraft of a country may not fly over another country's territory or land on its territory without permission, he said. The US military surveillance plane did not issue any request or notice to the Chinese side to enter Chinese airspace or land on Chinese territory during the whole process, Zhu said. However, facts show that after the collision the US plane had the time and technical ability to issue such a request or notice, he said, adding that the US plane failed to do so. By entering China's airspace and landing at a Chinese airport without informing the Chinese side, the US plane has violated the relevant regulations of international conventions and Chinese laws, and its actions constituted serious infringements upon China's sovereignty and airspace, the spokesman said. * Third, Zhu said, it is a fact that the US surveillance plane rammed the Chinese warplane. After the collision, the front part of the nose of the US jet dropped off, and the airscrew of its second left engine was deformed, evidence that the US plane veered into, approached and collided abruptly with the Chinese plane, Zhu said, adding that this can not be denied. He urged the US side to face up to the facts, bear full responsibility, apologize to China, and not seek any excuse to shirk its responsibility. * Fourth, either according to international law or Chinese domestic laws, China has the right to investigate the plane which caused all this trouble, and the incident as a whole, as China is the victim, the country where the incident occurred and the country where the culprit aircraft landed, Zhu noted. Taking into consideration the suddenness and complexity of the incident, China needs sufficient time to make the investigation, Zhu said. Even under such circumstances, he said, the Chinese Foreign Ministry still urgently tabled a request to meet with the US ambassador to China, and lodged a representation with him at 9:30 pm on the evening of the day the incident took place. Zhu pointed out that the US plane is not a civilian aircraft, but a military spy plane that illegally entered Chinese territory, violated both international and Chinese domestic laws, and posed a serious threat to Chinese sovereignty and airspace, he noted. The spokesman said that the US warplane entered China illegally, so it can not enjoy immunity, for only aircraft which enter China in accordance with the law can be protected by law. The Chinese side reserves the right to lodge more representations in line with the investigation results, Zhu noted. * Fifth, the most urgent matter for the US side is not to table all manner of requests, but to make a thorough review on the incident, apologize to the Chinese side and respond to China's concerns and demands, Zhu said. He reiterated that the Chinese government and people have the right to know the answers to the following questions: Why does the US side frequently send its military surveillance planes on spy flights over sea areas close to China? Why did the US warplane make an abrupt turn and ram the Chinese jet in violation of operation rules? Why did the US plane intrude into China's airspace and land at a Chinese airport without approval from the Chinese side? The US is fully responsible for making a clear explanation of these questions to the Chinese people, he said. Zhu said that the Chinese side is conducting an investigation into the incident. Although the process is not yet complete, Zhu said, China lost no time in allowing US diplomats in China to meet the concerned US plane crew members, after taking into consideration humanitarian concerns and the relevant agreements between China and the US. "This demonstrates China's sincerity and humanitarian spirit in handling the issue", he said, adding that China will deal properly with the US crew and plane on the basis of the results of the investigation. Zhu once again demanded that the US side solemnly consider China's solemn representations and rational requests, and sincerely cooperate with China in the investigation. He also urged the US side to make a prompt explanation to the Chinese government and people about the US plane's ramming of the Chinese jet and its infringement upon China's sovereignty and airspace, apologize to the Chinese side and shoulder all the responsibility arising from the incident. **** Japanese Govt Officially Approves Controversial History Textbook The Japan <http://english.peopledaily.com.cn/data/japan.html> ese Education Ministry on Tuesday officially approved a controversial history textbook for junior high school for 2002 without redressing its history-distorting essence and the beautification of Japan's past aggressions, again arousing indignation from neighboring Asian countries and peace-loving organizations in Japan. The history textbook, which drew protests from some Asian countries as well as peace-loving organizations and scholars in Japan, was complied by nationalist Japanese Society for History Textbook Reform. The right wing group claims the current books are biased against Japan and full of self-denigration. Under pressures both at home and abroad, The Japanese government demanded the group make a total of 137 changes to the too apparent narration of beautification on aggressions. Yet, it can be easily found that there is no change to the textbook's essence of history-distorting and beautification on Japan's past military aggressions. The approved textbook, for instance, failed to mention the Nanjing Massacre as a historical fact, in which over 300,000 Chinese civilians and unarmed soldiers were slaughtered by Japanese aggressors in 1937. It instead mentioned the killing in the part of Far East Tribune Trial and tries to obliterate it, saying that "many Chinese civilians are massacred in Nanjing ... but the data have many questionable points and the controversies on that continue to nowadays. " A similar dispute occurred in 1982 when a Japanese history textbook changed the word "aggression" to "advance" in describing the Japanese military action against China. The Japanese government, under pressure from Asian countries at that time, adopted a article on textbook issue, and promised to deal with its Asian neighbors in modern and contemporary periods in light of international understanding and cooperation. In accordance with the article, the Japanese government should have demanded thorough changes to the history textbook draft, which was handed in for screening last December, analysts said. **** Japan Angered by U.S. Submarine's Port Call Without Advance Notice Japan's foreign minister demanded an explanation Tuesday for a U.S. nuclear-powered submarine's entry into a southwestern port without advance notice, and suggested that further port calls should be put on hold. "Until I receive the report, I cannot cooperate with U.S. nuclear submarines making port calls," Yohei Kono told reporters. The 6,080-ton Chicago entered Sasebo port, 609 miles southwest of Tokyo, on Monday, but U.S. military officials had only told the city government that it would stop outside the port, said city spokesman Keiichi Matsuda. The 20-minute stop violated a 1964 bilateral accord requiring the United States to notify Japan 24 hours in advance of port calls for U.S. nuclear-powered submarines. The notice gives time for local authorities to check radioactivity levels in ports before and after U.S. submarine visits. The port call has inflamed tensions between Japan and the U.S. military in the wake of a series of crimes linked to American bases here and the collision of a U.S. submarine and a Japanese fishing vessel off Hawaii that killed nine Japanese. Sasebo City Mayor Akira Mitsutake called the Chicago's port call an "act of bad faith." It was the first port entry to violate the U.S.-Japan pact, he said. Japan is host to nearly 50,000 U.S. troops under a joint security treaty. **** Fresh Clash Erupts Along Kosovo-Macedonia Border Ethnic Albania <http://www.peopledaily.com.cn/english/data/albania.html> n rebels and Macedonian forces exchanged fire along the Kosovo-Macedonia border Monday, two days after the Macedonian government declared the offensive against the rebels over. Macedonian Interior Ministry spokesman Georgi Trendafilov told the media in Skopje that a group of rebels fired shots at the Macedonian troops near Selce Monday afternoon when they attempted entry into the mountain village. Trendafilov said one of the rebels was injured in the clash and others have fled into the mountains, where the Macedonian troops were hunting for them. According to the Albanian news agency ATA, four civilian buildings were destroyed Monday in a blast at the Preshnice village near the Kosovo-Macedonia border. Also Monday, the NATO-led peacekeeping forces in Kosovo said in Pristina that they have seized three heavy machine-guns, a large amount of grenades and 12,000 bullets at the area along the Kosovo- Macedonia border. **** IPU 105th Conference Opens The 105th Conference of the Inter Parliamentarian Union (IPU) opened on Monday in the Havana Convention Palace. Nearly 1,500 representatives from 123 nations are expected to participate in the first round of debates, and President Fidel Castro, of Cuba, will also attend. The event will have, among its main issues, the preservation of the principles of international law towards peace and security in the world, as well as education and culture essential to promote the participation of men and women in political life as a necessary instrument for the development of peoples. A third supplementary issue and other urgent matters will be selected on Monday during the plenary session, among seven proposals coming from seven countries, including Cuba, who suggested to analyze the role of national parliaments in the fight against terrorism. During the opening ceremony of the conference, on Sunday evening, President Castro said that "it's up to us to have responsibilities and duties if we want to win the battle for the survival of our species, nowadays threatened by global risks never imagined before." After lashing the U.S. for its absence in the latest IPU conferences, he warned that there are signs of a new cold war and the beginning of a desperate arms race. The president of the IPU's Executive Committee, Najma Heptulla of India <http://www.peopledaily.com.cn/english/data/india.html> , referred to problems associated to the current stage of globalization and reiterated the need to establish a new world order based on justice and equity. The president of the Cuban parliament, Ricardo Alarcon, after welcoming participants, underscored the need to democratize international relations, including the United Nations and its Security Council, where the "veto power must be eliminated." Also on Sunday started the 5th Meeting of Parliamentarian Women, as well as the Parliamentarian Human Rights Committee, analyzing 31 human rights violation cases, some of them in Argentina <http://english.peopledaily.com.cn/data/argentina.html> , Colombia <http://www.peopledaily.com.cn/english/data/colombia.html> , Ecuador and Honduras. The 105th Conference allows delegations to keep bilateral relations and to examine different conflicts taking place around the world, like in the Middle East, Cyprus <http://www.peopledaily.com.cn/english/data/cyprus.html> and in the African region of the Great Lakes. This is the second time Havana headquarters this event, once in 1981 the 68th IPU Conference was held in Cuba. Created in 1889 and located in Geneva, Switzerland <http://english.peopledaily.com.cn/data/switzerland.html> , the Inter Parliamentarian Union is the world's oldest political forum, and has 140 members and five regional legislative bodies. _________________________________________________ KOMINFORM P.O. Box 66 00841 Helsinki Phone +358-40-7177941 Fax +358-9-7591081 http://www.kominf.pp.fi General class struggle news: [EMAIL PROTECTED] subscribe mails to: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Geopolitical news: [EMAIL PROTECTED] subscribe: [EMAIL PROTECTED] __________________________________________________
