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FM Spokesman on US Report on New Asia Strategy
Any proposition on besieging China through strengthening military deployment is detrimental to the historical trend, said Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Sun Yuxi today.
"Such a proposition is erroneous, and is no solution," Sun told a regular press conference when asked to comment on a recent US policy report, which calls for a southward shift of focus in US military deployment in East Asia to meet the changing security situation in the region.
Sun said that the Chinese government has taken note of the report, adding that China is committed to the independent foreign policy of peace, and safeguarding peace and stability of the Asian- pacific region and the world.
EP-3 spy plance not allowed to fly outChina repeated on Thursday its refusal to allow a damaged US Navy spy plane to fly home and said it had not received a formal request to remove the plane by cargo aircraft.
"We have already said that it is impossible for it to fly back," Foreign Ministry spokesman Sun Yuxi said.
Sun said the two countries were working through diplomatic channels to solve the dispute over the return of the crippled EP-3 surveillance plane, stranded on China's Hainan island since an April 1 mid-air collision with a Chinese fighter, which crashed.
Sun said he had seen reports of proposals the United States charter a cargo plane to fly out the dismantled EP-3, but declined further comment because "there has been no formal request from the United States".
Washington has demanded the return of the US$80 million aircraft, forced to make an emergency landing at a Chinese military base after the collision in international airspace off China.
On Wednesday, British-based Antonov Airlines said it was in talks with the US government to charter a giant Antonov cargo plane to airlift the grounded EP-3 from Hainan to Okinawa, Japan.
"We've been approached by the US government to charter the An-124," an executive for the freight airline told Reuters.
The An-124-100 is the largest cargo plane in commercial use.
"If a decision is taken to fly out the EP-3 (in an An-124), the wings and possibly the tail fin will first be removed and then stored inside the Antonov's wide cargo hold," the executive said.
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