US will not apologise to China over spy plane, insists Cheney

The US Secretary of State, Mr Colin Powell, warned yesterday that long-term relations with China are at risk because of the US spy plane impasse and Vice-President Dick Cheney insisted Washington would not apologise over the incident.

Mr Powell yesterday sent China a strong message that the US administration might not be able to contain the consequences of the current impasse unless the detained US surveillance crew being held on Hainan island is released soon.

The White House also let it be known that the President had drafted a reply to the letter he received from the wife of the downed Chinese pilot, Wang Wei. It is understood he again expressed regret for the incident, and responded to a range of issues she had raised.

Further signs that the Chinese military was taking a harder line than the political leadership emerged in the main army news paper, the People's Liberation Army Daily, which demanded that Washington take responsibility for the incident and apologise to the Chinese government and people.

Mr Powell joined other members of the administration on TV discussion programmes yesterday in arguing, in his words, that the delay in releasing the 21 men and three women could "affect the environment on Capitol Hill" in which decisions on a whole range of other China issues are made.

Although Congress is in recess for the week, there is little doubt that if matters have not been resolved by the time it returns the White House may indeed lose control of the debate about future relations with China.

Reflecting the hardening of Congressional attitudes, the chairman of the House International Relations Committee, Mr Henry Hyde, over the weekend became the most senior politician yet to describe the prisoners as "hostages".

He too warned yesterday on CNN that issues such as arms sales, the Chinese Olympic campaign, and its World Trade Organisation accession could all be affected by the current crisis.

The Vice-President, Mr Dick Cheney, also speaking on TV yesterday, said the US had no plans to apologise. "The President has made it clear we regret the loss of the Chinese pilot as a result of this accident. The notion that we would apologise for being in international air space, for example, is not something we can accept," Mr Cheney said in an interview.

The US defence attache, Brig Gen Neal Sealock, said yesterday he was working hard for "unfettered" daily access to the crew . Free access to them could buy time for what could still be long and tortuous negotiations.