China said today it will use talks with the United States next week over the spy aircraft incident to press for an end to US surveillance flights near its coastal waters.
In the foreign ministry's first remarks since the aircraft crew left China after 11 days of captivity, ministry spokeswoman Ms Zhang Qiyue repeated China's assertion that the incident is not over.
China would seek an end to the surveillance flights at an April 18th bilateral meeting set up to discuss the incident, she told a news conference.
Also on the agenda will be the fate of the US EP-3 aircraft, which is too badly damaged to fly.
She declined to say when or whether China would return the EP-3, which China has held since it made an emergency landing on April 1st after a crash with a Chinese fighter jet over the South China Sea.
Asked about statements by US officials that the United States would not give up surveillance flights near China despite Beijing's insistence, Ms Zhang called on Washington not to complicate the issue.
US Secretary of State Mr Colin Powell insisted the United States had not apologised for the incident, which it maintains was an accident.
The aircraft's crew of 21 men and three women arrived back on US territory of Guam just before 5 a.m. (local time).
They are to be transported by a C-17 to Hawaii and will stay at Pearl Harbour naval base for two days of briefings before returning to Whidbey Island, Washington.