I
107TH CONGRESS
1ST SESSION
H. R. 2507
To prohibit payment by the United States Government of any request or
claim by the Government of the People’s Republic of China for reimburse-
ment of the costs associated with the United States Navy EP–3 aircraft
that was forced to land on Hainan Island, China, on April 1, 2001.
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
JULY 17, 2001
Mr. LANTOS (for himself, Mr. HYDE, Mr. STUMP, Mr. SKELTON, Mr. COX,
Mr. HOEFFEL, Mr. KING, Mr. TANCREDO, Mr. SHERMAN, Mr.
FALEOMAVAEGA, Mr. CUNNINGHAM, Mr. MENENDEZ, Mrs. JO ANN
DAVIS of Virginia, and Mr. ROHRABACHER) introduced the following bill;
which was referred to the Committee on International Relations
A BILL
To prohibit payment by the United States Government of
any request or claim by the Government of the People’s
Republic of China for reimbursement of the costs associ-
ated with the United States Navy EP–3 aircraft that
was forced to land on Hainan Island, China, on April
1, 2001.
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa-
tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled,
SECTION 1. FINDINGS; SENSE OF CONGRESS.
(a) FINDINGS.—Congress finds the following:
(1) On April 1, 2001, a Chinese F–8 fighter
flew dangerously close to a United States Navy EP–
3 aircraft on a routine reconnaissance and surveil-
lance mission in international airspace off the coast
of China, and collided with it, resulting in structural
damage to the EP–3 aircraft.
(2) The crew of the EP–3 aircraft transmitted
a series of ‘‘Mayday’’ distress calls and were able to
successfully land at the nearest airfield, the Lingshui
military airfield on Hainan Island, China, due to the
heroic actions of the American crew to keep the
plane in the air until it could land safely.
(3) The 24 crewmembers of the EP–3 aircraft
were detained against their will for 11 days before
being released, in clear violation of international
rules governing the treatment of these personnel and
despite repeated requests for their release by the
United States Government, and the Chinese Govern-
ment boarded and removed equipment from the EP–
3 aircraft, notwithstanding its status under inter-
national law as property of the United States.
(4) The Chinese Government refused to allow
the United States to repair the downed EP–3 air-
craft in Hainan, and fly it back to the United
States, and instead demanded that the United
States cut the plane into pieces, and return it to the
United States on a leased transport aircraft.
(5) The Chinese Government has presented a
bill 
to 
the 
United 
States 
Government 
for
$1,000,000, which allegedly covers the expenses for
the 24 crewmembers of the EP–3 aircraft during
their 11-day detention in Hainan, ‘‘repatriation’’
charges, and expenses linked to the recovery of the
aircraft.
(6) The accident was caused by reckless action
by a Chinese pilot with a long, documented history
of taking overly aggressive actions in intercepting
United States reconnaissance aircraft operating in
international airspace and the Chinese Government
failed to comply with its international obligations im-
mediately to return the EP–3 crewmembers.
(7) The United States Government has already
incurred significant costs associated with the recov-
ery of the EP–3 aircraft, including dispatching con-
tract personnel and United States Government em-
ployees to the Chinese island of Hainan to cut the
aircraft into pieces and pack it aboard a cargo plane
and leasing the cargo plane itself.
(8) The United States is currently evaluating
the disassembled EP–3 aircraft at Dobbins Air Re-
serve Base in Georgia to determine what repairs
must be made to the plane to make it airworthy and
mission ready, and whether a new $80,000,000 EP–
3 aircraft will need to be purchased to replace the
disassembled aircraft if it cannot be safely returned
to service.
(b) SENSE OF CONGRESS.—It is the sense of Con-
gress that the United States should make a complete ac-
counting of all costs associated with the downing of the
EP–3 aircraft, the recovery of the crew and aircraft from
Hainan Island, China, and repairs to the plane or its re-
placement, and make a formal request to the Chinese Gov-
ernment for reimbursement of all of these costs.
SEC. 2. PROHIBITION ON PAYMENT OF FUNDS TO THE CHI-
NESE GOVERNMENT RELATING TO COSTS AS-
SOCIATED WITH THE UNITED STATES NAVY
EP–3 AIRCRAFT INCIDENT.
No funds available to any department or agency of
the United States Government may be used to pay any
request or claim by the Government of the People’s Re-
public of China for reimbursement of the costs associated
with the detention of the crewmembers of the United
States Navy EP–3 aircraft that was forced to land on Hai-
nan Island, China, on April 1, 2001, or for reimbursement
of any of the costs associated with the return of the air-
craft to the United States, until the Chinese Government
first provides reimbursement to the United States Govern-
ment for the costs associated with the return of the crew-
members and the aircraft to the United States and for
either the cost of repairing the aircraft to make it fully
airworthy and mission ready or the cost of replacing the
aircraft.
Æ