 |
First US Warships Arrive in HK since Spy Plane Row
First US Warships Arrive in HK since Spy Plane Row
Two US warships arrived in Hong Kong on Thursday in a further sign that strained relations between Beijing and Washington might be on the mend.
The minesweepers USS Guardian and USS Patriot were the first US navy ships to be granted entry to the territory since a mid-air collision between an American spy plane and Chinese fighter jet in April sparked a major diplomatic row.
The ships, part of the US Seventh Fleet and operating out of Japan, will be in Hong Kong until July 30.
Relations between China and the United States have been sour since the collision and were further strained when US allowed Taiwan's Chen Shui-bian to visit New York in May.
At the height of tensions in May, China denied permission for the minesweeper USS Inchon to make a port call in Hong Kong.
China on Thursday expelled a second US-based scholar convicted of spying and opened the door for the departure of another days before Secretary of State Colin Powell's visit to Beijing.
The only other time China barred a US warship from Hong Kong was in May 1999 after US warplanes bombed China's embassy in Belgrade, killing three people. The visits resumed four months later.
China allows more US warships to visit Hong Kong In a fresh signal that US-Chinese tensions are easing, the Chinese government agreed to let seven US warships stop in Hong Kong next month.
The USS Constellation battle group, with 6,500 sailors aboard, received clearance for a port call in Hong Kong from Aug. 20-25, US Consulate spokeswoman Barbara Zigli said Friday.
Zigli declined comment on the significance of the visit, which was approved Thursday -- the same day that two small American warships arrived in Hong Kong in the first US military port call since a recent spy plane crisis harmed relations between the United States and China.
After an American spy plane bumped into a Chinese fighter jet on April 1, killing the Chinese pilot, Beijing refused the first request by the US Navy to let a ship visit Hong Kong.
After NATO forces bombed the Chinese Embassy in Belgrade in May 1999, Beijing refused entry for 10 US warships before the Americans could resume with their port calls.
Hong Kong has long been a popular port of call for US sailors, and the feuding between Washington and Beijing has upset the owners of local bars, restaurants and shops who count on the military visits to bring them business.
Zigli said the ships to stop in Hong Kong in August are the USS Constellation, an aircraft carrier; the USS Thach, a frigate; the USS Kinkaid and USS Benfold, both destroyers; the USS Rainier and USS Kiska, both supply ships; and the USS Santa Fe, a nuclear submarine.
Hong Kong has been governed with a great deal of local autonomy since Britain handed it back to China four years ago.
In This Section
|