Pentagon officials told CNN that the Chinese have removed some sensitive equipment from the plane, an indication, they believe, that China has no intention of surrendering the plane anytime soon. A Pentagon official said the plane's crew had begun to destroy sensitive equipment before the plane landed on the Chinese island of Hainan, but the official did not know how far the process had progressed. Prior to Tuesday's meeting, the United States last heard from the crew of the Navy plane shortly after its emergency landing Sunday on the island, following the collision with a Chinese F-8 fighter, one of two that had been trailing it. Haikou is the provincial capital of Hainan. He stressed 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. Despite the strong words from China, the Bush administration has no plans to apologize to China for the collision, a U.S. official said. U.S. Ambassador to China Joseph Prueher said he believes Chinese officials have boarded the plane, as one Chinese source told CNN on Monday.