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Cheney: EP-3 in bad shape, won't fly home
( 2001-05-21 09:06 ) (9 )

A plane parks on Hainan island at Lingshui airport where a US spy plane made an emergency landing after a midair collision with a Chinese fighter April 3.

The damaged U.S. spy plane that made an emergency landing in China last month will probably not be able to fly home and will have to be shipped out in crates, U.S. Vice President Dick Cheney said on Sunday.

"The airplane will be returned, there have been negotiations under way," Cheney said on NBC's "Meet the Press." "My guess is it may well have to be crated out, partly because it's in bad shape."

China has said it will refuse to allow the plane - stranded on China's Hainan island since an April 1 mid-air collision with a Chinese fighter - to fly home.

The United States, meanwhile, has said the plane may be able to be repaired so it can be flown home, a more efficient way of transporting the aircraft.

Cheney said the United States was negotiating the terms of the plane's removal with China. When asked if it would be a humiliation to the United States if the plane left in crates, he replied, "No."

The $80 million aircraft was forced to make an emergency landing at a Chinese military base after the collision with a Chinese chasing jet fighter over the China South Sea. The pilot of the Chinese fighter was killed and China detained the spy plane's 24 crew members for 11 days as it insisted Washington apologize for the collision and end its spy flights off the Chinese coast.

The United States refused to accept responsibility for the accident, but the standoff ended when Washington said it was "very sorry" the Chinese pilot died and the EP-3 landed on Hainan without prior authorization.

On Friday, the 24 crew members received heroism medals. The crew first visited President Bush at the White House and then headed to Andrews Air Force Base for the ceremony at which the pilot, Lt. Shane Osborn, was awarded the Distinguished Flying Cross.

NAVY BOAT 'CHALLENGED'

Meanwhile, sources told NBC News that a U.S. Navy ship had been "challenged" by China, this time in international waters off the northeast coast - well away from the highly sensitive Hainan Island.

The U.S. Navy ship Bowditch, formally described as an oceanographic research vessel, was ordered to leave the area by a Chinese military ship in the past several days.

The Bowditch replied it was operating in "international waters," and proceeded on its mission. The Chinese vessel did not threaten the Bowditch, but continued to follow the U.S. ship at a safe distance.

Officials reported that a heavily armed Navy Aegis Cruiser, first the USS Cowpens and then the Vincennes, was escorting the Bowditch and that the Chinese never pressed their demand.

The incident followed three separate surveillance flights - two by Air Force RC-135's, one by a Navy EP-3E - last week.

Chinese fighter jets observed the three flights, from a distance of "several miles - out of eyesight" and did not attempt to intercept or interfere with the U.S. surveillance planes, the sources said.