Click here to get free customized information delivered to you automatically via e-mail. The United States says the plane is sovereign property off-limits to China.
China says the plane has no immunity under international law.
The issue is not cut and dried. Normally when a state-owned aircraft is in another country, it is treated as sovereign property of the visitors. That's when flight plans have been filed and appropriate diplomatic clearances have been given. Under different circumstances, the United States has not accorded such immunity. When a Soviet pilot flew his MiG to Japan in 1976 and sought asylum in the United States, the jet was dismantled and inspected by U.S. and Japanese experts before being returned.