"If we were in a similar situation, we'd probably be on that plane." This admission by the CIA's director, Mr George Tenet, in response to the Chinese interest in boarding and examining the EP-3 was a clear sign that the authorities in Washington want to calm things down.
White House officials had become concerned that the escalating TV coverage was creating a sense of real crisis. They were talking about ways out of the confrontation - but secretly they admitted that an impounded military aircraft was not comparable to an embassy.
Besides which, it would not take long before the press remembered the case of the 1976 Russian defector who flew his MIG-25 to Japan. The US took 19 weeks to dismantle the plane piece by piece and return it to the Russians in crates. It is likely that the EP-3 crew will be home from China long before their valuable aircraft. But few imagine that the Chinese will find much intact. Standard operating procedure re quires systematic destruction of codes and valuable military hardware if an aircraft is about to be surrendered. It is thought that the crew had plenty of time to do that.
For President Bush the incident marks an important first blooding in his relations with China - some say it has been engineered by the Chinese precisely for that purpose and to test his mettle. The relationship has been tense, with the mainland engaged in an aggressive war of words over potential US radar sales to Taiwan and involved in a domestic crackdown that has seen a Chinese US citizen and a US resident placed under arrest.
Such tensions have been accompanied by increasingly aggressive intercepts by Chinese aircraft of US surveillance flights in international air space.
Although softening the tone of his language, Mr Bush will not want to prompt unflattering comparisons with what was perceived to be President Clinton's weak "China first" policy, but he will also be keen not to allow the issue to "bleed into others".
Hence the most strident US demands have largely focused on access to the crew, a problem that is easily resolved by the Chinese without loss of face. "Fair but flexible" is how aides describe it.
But if the incident was designed as a warning against the radar sales, many here view it as counter-productive. Republicans have been lobbying the administration for the sales and Mr Bush's instinctive distrust of the Chinese is likely to be strengthened. The aircraft is no small prize to the Chinese, however. One of only 12 EP-3s in the US spy fleet, it contains the latest in electronic surveillance equipment. Of particular interest to the Chinese will be the content of hard drives to assess the extent to which their communications have been penetrated.
The escalating row between Washington and Beijing appears to have caught the EU off guard and exposed its diplomatic limits.
Asked about the incident during a visit to Athens yesterday, EU foreign policy chief Mr Javier Solana - who takes his orders from the 15 member-states - seemed at a loss for words.
"Europe has no common position," Mr Solana said. "But I imagine it is to abide by international law." In Brussels, diplomats were mostly coy about commenting on the incident, which has pitted Europe's key strategic ally and sole superpower against the world's biggest emerging market.