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China, US to Keep in Contact on Collision Issue
China and the United States have agreed to keep in contact on the collision incident in which a US reconnaissance plane rammed into and destroyed a Chinese jet fighter on April 1, and will decide on the time for the next round of negotiations through diplomatic channels.
Chinese Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Zhang Qiyue made the statement at a routine press conference Thursday, after a two-day negotiation between the two sides, which she described as "frank and conducive to the mutual understanding of each other's stand".
At the news conference, Zhang also projected some videotapes shot by Chinese pilots showing US spying EP-3 planes veering at wide angle close to Chinese shadowing fighter jets on numeruous occasions last year or early this year. She also give some pictures of the damaged US EP-3 plane staying at southern Hainan Island, which shows evidence that during the April 1 collision, US plane intentionally rammed the Chinese fighter.
During the two-day talks which begin on Wednesday, the two countries actually made little agreement over the cause of the April 1 mid-air collision, with the US strongly disagrees to China's explanation of the tragedy, in which Chinese pilot Wang Wei lost his life.
The talks got off to a rocky start on Thursday after Washington threatened to pull out of the negotiations due to a lack of progress on Wednesday. But after the early morning intervention by US Ambassador Joseph Prueher and Chinese assistant foreign minister Zhou Wenzhong, both sides agreed to discuss the return of the US spy plane, giving them the chance to air their views of the incident.
"We covered all the items that were on the agenda and I found today's session to be very productive," said Deputy Undersecretary of Defense Peter Verga, the head of the US delegation, after a nearly two-and-a-half-hour meeting Thursday at Chinese's Foreign Ministry.
"The talks were very frank. These kind of talks will help the two sides to understand each other's position," said Chinese foreign ministry spokeswoman Zhang Qiyue, "The two sides agreed to stay in touch and to finalize the next round of negotiations through diplomatic channels."
Zhang reiterated Beijing's position that the collision was due to an increasing number of US surveillance flights close to China's coastal waters, and urged Washington to end the flights.
She said the US team was presented with "a large amount of evidence which proves" the US side was responsible for the collision.
The first round of the "working-level talks" were largely seen as an opportunity for each side to state their positions and test the other side's attitude, while progress was largely seen as dependent on the approval from higher authorities, analysts said.
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