Powell regrets death of Chinese pilot

In a move designed to take the heat out of the impasse with China, the US Secretary of State, Mr Colin Powell, yesterday expressed regret at the death of a Chinese pilot in the mid-air collision with a US spy plane. However, he said the two countries should exchange explanations and move on.

"We regret that the Chinese plane did not get down safely and we regret the loss of the life of that Chinese pilot but now we need to move on and we need to bring this to a resolution," Mr Powell told reporters outside the State Department.

China's Washington embassy described Mr Powell's statement as a "very important" step. Moments after he delivered his statement, the Chinese press spokesman, Mr Zhang Yuanyaun, said the embassy had been closely watching the US response after Chinese President Jiang Zemin demanded a full apology for the incident.

"That is a very important statement of course, we were watching what the Americans would do.

"This is a very important response," added Mr Zhang, but said it was not up to the Chinese embassy in Washington to say whether the apparent olive branch would go far enough.

With the US still refusing to accept responsibility for the incident and hence refusing to apologise, Mr Powell's comment is seen as an attempt to meet the Chinese half way in the hope that they may now be able to move to release the 24 crew still being held.

Reassured by news that the crew of their spy plane had destroyed secret technology and recordings on the aircraft, the US continued yesterday to insist that China held the key to the easing of the current impasse by releasing that crew.

The White House again made it clear that the US would not be willing to apologise following a formal request to the US ambassador, Admiral Joe Prueher, from the Chinese Foreign Minister, Mr Tang Jiaxuan, at their first meeting since the crisis broke.

Briefing journalists, President Bush's spokesman, Mr Ari Fleischer, said that "the US doesn't understand the reasons for an apology. Our airplanes are operating in international airspace and the United States did nothing wrong."

No linkage between the holding of the crew and an apology has been formally made but the suspicion here is that Chinese delays in releasing them are not entirely related to internal discussions. Officials have been hinting they might be willing to engage with the Chinese in a joint study of the accident.

Mr Fleischer also ruled out ending offshore US surveillance flights, saying it was within US rights to fly in international airspace. And despite the rising tensions over the incident, the White House sought to keep it isolated from other areas of friction between the two major nuclear powers.

Specifically, Mr Fleischer insisted, China's arrest of Chinese-born US-based academic Mr Gao Zhan was being viewed as a "separate event".

Asked whether the controversy could affect a US decision due this month on a sale of arms to Taiwan, Mr Fleischer said, "As far as the President is concerned, the decision to sell arms to Taiwan is going to be based on Taiwan's defence needs."