The Naz 8 Megaplex: Bollywood flicks, popcorn and plenty of naan (in Bay Area News) Go Your Own Way: Freelancing and independent contract work (in Business) Hot'n'Sour Dish: Japan's Ringu rings eerie bells (in A&E) Emil Amok: Superpowers and superstars, Filipino-crucifixion-style (in Opinion)

Related: • Spy Plane Crew Returns to U.S. • Blast from the Past: Sun Yat-sen in the United States

The U.S. ‘Regrets’

America offers partial apology for spy plane incident

By Ji Hyun Lim and Associated Press

Chairman of U.C. Berkeley’s ethnic studies department, L. Ling-Chi Wang, foresaw the easy answer to the current standoff between the United States and China: an apology from President Bush.

“We are acting like Rambo,” Wang said. “But we don’t have any chips to play with. They have the 24 crew members — they have the spy plane. What are we going to do? Send in Rambo to rescue them? The simplest and easiest thing would be for America to apologize and get the crew members back.”

After an 11-day standoff with China, the United States finally did offer a double apology for both the death of the Chinese F-8 fighter pilot Wang Wei, who died in the collision with the U.S. EP-3 surveillance plane, and for the U.S. plane’s emergency landing on Chinese soil.

A letter sent to Chinese Foreign Minister Tang Jiaxuan on Wednesday expressed “sincere regret” over the missing pilot and aircraft. Even though the United States did not accept responsibility for the incident or apologize in full as China had insisted, Tang has given assurances that the U.S. air crew would be able to leave China promptly.

Tensions between United States and China had grown to large proportions in the days prior to the apology. While family members waited for safe return of the crewmen, the Bush administration pressed China for their release. Meanwhile, Chinese President Jiang Zemin demanded an apology.

The incident is one of several tensions in the last several years between the United States and China. Prior to the apology, Asian Americans had a myriad of opinions on U.S.-Chinese actions concerning the incident.

Analysts in the United States speculated that Chinese leaders took a hard stance in order to save face before the Chinese people and the world. Any wavering could weaken their power. That could have major consequences, considering the Communist Party Congress will decide major leadership changes next year. Other experts have said the apology by the United States may set a precedence to prevent further flights across Asian waters.

The situation could have economic implications, as well. Moreover, many Asian Americans speculate on the possibility of an anti-Asian backlash in the United States.

Alicia Wang, vice-chair of the California Democratic Party said the tug-of-war between the United States and China was President Bush’s first test in international politics.

“We’re looking to President Bush for leadership and to see if he understands that whatever he does in international affairs has an impact in domestic Asian American affairs,” she said.

If President Bush engages in anti-Asian rhetoric of any sort, it could have a negative impact on the community, she pointed out, and any “yellow peril rhetoric” used in the media could incite anti-Asian American violence.

On the other hand, Susan Au Allen, president of the U.S. Pan Asian American Chamber of Commerce, stressed China has more at stake then the United States. Unlike L. Ling-Chi Wang, she doesn’t think the U.S. government should have apologized to China. “The American plane was flying in international territory,” she said. “The Americans did not do anything that was improper.”

China’s current stance could also hurt its chance of joining the World Trade Organization, she said. “If the Chinese want to go into the international marketplace, join the World Trade Organization, they have to obey international law and not the rule of force.”

If relations did sour, Allen said it would be the Chinese people who would be hurt. She pointed out that the United States sells only $19 billion worth of goods to China, while China sells about $45 billion worth of goods to the United States.

“The imbalance is overwhelming,” Allen said. “The innocent Chinese people will be put out of jobs [if the situation impacts trade relations]. I don’t think the leadership in Beijing wants this to happen.”

Similarly, Don Tang, the former president of Lockheed Space Systems Division, said the United States should continue their current position.

“I think there’s a lot of rhetoric going on and it will get resolved,” he said. “I just think diplomacy will have to take its course. I don’t think this will make or break President Bush.”

Even with the partial apology, several points continue to be argued.

There is still disagreement over which aircraft was at fault for the collision. According to the U.S. officials, the American plane was flying “straight and steady, not deviating speed, altitude or direction.” A Pentagon official said the crew reported that the Chinese F-8 jet made two close passes before the collision.

China, however, contends that the U.S. plane swerved into the fighter jet. Surviving Chinese pilot Zhao Yu confirmed that view. He reported that the U.S. plane was veering at a wide angle, and that the collision was inevitable.

Officials are also questioning what information the Chinese have gathered from the U.S. surveillance plane. Crew members sent the Pentagon a message that they destroyed the plane’s highly sensitive information just before the crash. Nevertheless, there is concern after photos of the plane, taken by a commercial satellite, showed several trucks were lined up near the plane, indicating the Chinese military may have deconstructed the American aircraft.

On April 9, Army Brig. Gen. Neal Sealock, the U.S. military attaché to Beijing, met with crew members and stated they were in “excellent health and their spirits were extremely high.” They were said to be residing in hotel-like accommodations. Among them is Filipino American Ramon Pfleider Mercado II, 24, from Moreno Valley, Calif.

In the tense days before the diplomatic crisis was ended, Robert Weil, author of Red Cat, White Cat: China and the Contradictions of Market Socialism, and a lecturer at U.C. Santa Cruz, sees an increased possibility for conflict.

“We really have to decide as a nation whether we want to have 300 military bases all over the world … [if we want] to play that global role instead of meeting the need of our own society here,” he said. “China is increasingly becoming un-accepting of that role of the U.S. I think the danger of potential conflict is out there unfortunately.”