The collision between a US navy surveillance plane and a Chinese fighter jet has added tension to Sino-US relations at a time when Beijing is trying to figure out the emerging China policy of the new US administration.
"This event will definitely undermine relations, but the damage has to be limited because the two sides can't drive the relationship to hell," said Dr Yan Xuetong, director of the Institute of International Studies at Qinghua University in Beijing.
"The US does not have the right to say what is to be done with the plane," Dr Yan said. "The plane is on Chinese territory and China has the right to do whatever it wants on its own territory." China has held the US responsible for the accident over international waters which left a pilot of one of its F-8 fighters missing, while the US said the fault was China's.
The Chinese Foreign Ministry also accused the US plane of failing to go through proper channels to get permission to land on Chinese territory.
Dr Yan, a regular foreign policy consultant to the Chinese government, said the administration of President Bush was increasingly suspicious about China's military modernisation and was stepping up military flights in Chinese air space.
"The US suspicions over China's military are increasing," Mr Yan said. "The US says that these are routine flights, but what is becoming routine is that the US is entering into Chinese territory and interfering in China's sovereignty."
Dr Yan said Chinese fighter jets were being increasingly scrambled to chase American aircraft out of Chinese air space.
China has not officially explained what its jets were doing so close to the US plane, while Admiral Dennis C. Blair, commander-in-chief of the US Pacific Command, denied the US plane ever entered Chinese air space. Adm Blair complained that in recent months Chinese aircraft were "not intercepting in a professional manner".
Dr Yan said the Bush decision to view China as a "strategic competitor" and not a "strategic partner" like the former president, Mr Bill Clinton, has played a role in events leading up to the incident and would also play a role in the resolution of the issue.
"If you want the Chinese military to be a strategic competitor then China will be a strategic competitor, if you want the Chinese military to be a strategic partner, then China's military will be a strategic partner," he said.