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Spy Plane Row Will be Resolved in a Few Days: Powell
US Secretary of State Colin Powell said Monday he expected the row over China's refusal to hand over a downed US spy plane would be defused within a few days.
"I'm quite sure that in the next few days, we will find a way to resolve this that will be satisfactory to both sides," said Powell in an interview with CNN.
"I'm quite confident we will resolve this issue and get our airplane back. And we're in serious conversations with the Chinese," he said.
China on Thursday reiterated it would not allow a US EP-3 surveillance aircraft stranded on Hainan island since making an emergency landing after colliding with a Chinese jet on April 1 to fly back to US territory.
But a US team of engineers has certified that the plane can be repaired and US officials insist the best way to get the aircraft out would be to fly it.
Although the plane is still stranded in China, its 24-member crew was allowed to leave China after 11 days.
China has blamed the United States for the incident, which led to the loss of a Chinese pilot and provoked a damaging diplomatic crisis, and demanded an end to US surveillance flights off its coast.
But those flights have since resumed, adding extra tension to the diplomatic bargaining over the plane's fate.
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