Before leaving Beijing on Friday, the top American negotiator said more talks lay ahead. In the talks, American negotiators presented a written proposal for U.S. experts to inspect the plane in Hainan to determine whether to repair and fly it out or ship it out in pieces, U.S. officials said. The U.S. negotiators also presented a proposal for ways to ensure that such collisions do not recur, the officials said. They proposed discussing it at a meeting of a U.S.-China military maritime commission. No date was set but American officials said it might take place in two weeks.
Satellite photos suggest Chinese experts are inspecting the plane's sophisticated electronics.
The crew was allowed to return to the United States after 11 days on the island. Another irritant in U.S.-China relations comes as Washington is to make a decision, possibly next week, on selling weapons to Taiwan. The communist government considers the island a breakaway province and has threatened to use force to capture it. The sides split amid civil war in 1949. The administration has tried to separate the weapons package from the dispute over U.S. spy flights.