Those 24 American service personnel held by China are hostages. They are not detainees. The Chinese are Communist Chinese. Mainland Chinese is much too tepid a definition. The collision which caused an American recon plane, not a spy plane, to crash land on Chinese territory was caused by a reckless act of air antics on the part of a hot-shot pilot who likely was under orders to harass the American plane over international waters.
China holds what it feels is a trump card, our people.
The Communist Chinese hoped to learn from our downed plane what secrets they could obtain. Chances are they got nothing. The demand for an apology is not what China is after. They want other concessions either made public or behind the scene. China's holding of our personnel is their only trump card.