China is determined to reunite Taiwan with the mainland, and it sees U.S. arms sales as an affront to Chinese sovereignty. In a similar vein, China objects to U.S. reconnaissance flights along its coastline because they provide intelligence on military activities across the narrow waterway from Taiwan. The U.S. military has been collecting intelligence in that area for decades, and Vice President Dick Cheney made clear on Wednesday that the Bush administration has no intention of stopping. With the respect to the right of the United States to continue to operate our aircraft in international airspace, that really is a given. The administration also wants the electronic surveillance plane returned, even if the Chinese have stripped it of the sensitive equipment used to eavesdrop on the Chinese military.
China appears in no hurry to give it back.
China asserts that the U.S. plane turned into its fighter and violated international law by landing on Hainan without first gaining China's permission. U.S. officials say the plane was landed on the island only as an emergency measure. In a letter Wednesday that provided the basis for China's agreement to release the air crew, U.S. ambassador Joseph Prueher made clear that next week's meeting would include discussion of future flights. The choice of words was important not just in the present case but possibly also for the future. In the view of some, an apology would have amounted to a concession that eavesdropping on China was wrong, thus legitimizing China's demand that the United States halt reconnaissance flights.