US Warship Barred from Visiting Hong KongChina has refused a port call by a US warship to Hong Kong, the first denial since a mid-air collision between an American spy plane and a Chinese fighter jet off the south China coast on April 1, according to Foreign Ministry spokesman Zhu Bangzao.Zhu said the decision was made out of various considerations at the ministry's routine press briefing on Tuesday in Beijing, but he did not elaborate. US consulate spokeswoman Barbara Zigli said: "China informed the consulate on May 15 that it has denied a request for the USS Inchon to visit Hong Kong from June 28 to July 3." It was the first request by the US military for a ship to dock in Hong Kong since the spy plane incident, but not the first time China has refused permission. The two sides agreed only this week on the return of the US$80 million EP-3 spy plane from Hainan island, where it made an emergency landing. Zigli said the Inchon, a minesweeper, had wanted to make a routine stop in Hong Kong. Sixty to 70 US warships visit Hong Kong each year. China barred visits by US navy ships to Hong Kong for three months after US warplanes bombed China's embassy in Belgrade in May 1999. Zigli said the routine US port visits resumed in September 1999 and "there hasn't been a disapproval until this one". |
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