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US Technicians in China to Discuss Dismantling of EP-3
A team of US technicians is in China to negotiate the dismantling of a US spy plane stranded on Hainan island and to ensure the 80-million-dollar aircraft can be used again, US officials said Friday.
The four-strong team arrived in Beijing late Thursday and is expecting to meet Chinese foreign ministry officials over the weekend, a US embassy spokesman said.
China and the United States reached an agreement this week to airlift the EP-3 Aries surveillance aircraft out of Lingshui airbase on Hainan onboard a giant Antonov 124 cargo plane.
The damaged aircraft has been sitting on the tarmac at Linghsui since making an emergency landing at the base on April 1 following a mid-air collision with a Chinese fighter jet.
China refused US requests for the plane to be repaired and flown out, and under the compromise agreement the wings of the EP-3 will have to be taken off to allow the plane to fit inside the Antonov.
Washington wants the plane to be used again, and the US embassy spokesman said the aim of this weekend's talks was to "safely and efficiently recover the EP-3 airplane in a re-usable condition."
While agreeing to returning the plane, China wants a say in how the aircraft should be dismantled, a spokesman for the US Pacific Command in Hawaii said.
"The discussion (for this visit) is on how to take the plane apart. We haven't agreed on how the plane should be dismantled," he said.
The two sides have not given a timeframe for the removal of the plane, but Pentagon officials have said it could take 30 to 40 days to take it apart.
The US military spokesman in Hawaii said the technicians were expecting to be in China for around 10 days, but that they were not planning to go to Hainan to inspect the plane.
Throughout the negotiations to get the plane back, the United States has insisted the cheapest and easiest way to remove the plane from Hainan was to repair it and fly it out.
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