Iraqi Daily Condemns US Hegemony over Plane CollisionThe Babil, the most influential daily newspaper in Iraq, on Monday condemned the US hegemony over the collision of a US spy plane with a Chinese jet fighter.In a front-page editorial entitled "American air piracy over China," the Babil said that the accident showed the character of the US administration under President George W. Bush, which is "making provocations by playing the role of an evil pirate and interfering in the internal affairs of other countries." As to the 24 US crew members who landed in China's Hainan Island without permission of the Chinese authorities, the editorial said that "The US crew did not come as visitors, they came as spies and violated the territorial sovereignty of an independent country." The editorial suggested that without an apology from the US side, the current standoff between China and the US can not be possibly resolved. On April 1, a US EP-3 surveillance plane bumped into a Chinese jet fighter off the coast of Hainan Island in the South China Sea. The Chinese fighter crashed and its pilot is still missing. While the US plane, without informing Chinese authorities beforehand, intruded China's airspace and made an emergency landing in Hainan. China has held the US fully responsible for the accident and demanded a full apology from the US government to the Chinese people, but the US has so far only expressed "regret" over the loss of the Chinese pilot and has firmly ruled out an apology. |
| People's Daily Online --- http://english.peopledaily.com.cn/ |