They're being held incommunicado, under circumstances which I don't find acceptable. Senior U.S. officials told CNN that the 24 crew members were being held in a military guest house, except the pilot, who is being held alone. The plane was said to be filled with high-technology eavesdropping equipment that would be sure to interest the Chinese. China has insisted that it has every right to examine the plane now that it is on its territory. He said that one of the Chinese F-8 fighter jets had crashed into the South China Sea and that its pilot is missing.
China is the victim.
The damaged aircraft is Chinese. The missing pilot is Chinese. It was the U.S. plane which entered Chinese air space in violation of relevant regulations and landed on Chinese territory without permission. A photo released by Chinese state news agency Xinhua, shows the damaged U.S. surveillance plane at Lingshui Air Force Base Despite the strong words from China, the Bush administration has no plans to apologize to China for the collision, a U.S. official said. Pentagon sources have said the crew of the EP-3 aircraft deserved a medal for landing their craft down safely on the Chinese island of Hainan.